Disclaimer: I do not own PoT.


Chapter 8

"What do we do now?"

"Let's search around! We need to find Fuji!" Oishi cried out.

"But..."

The other tennis players from the rival schools looked at each other, unsure of that idea.

"Tezuka! We can't just leave Fuji out there somewhere! We have to find him!" Oishi pleaded with his captain, hoping for the other to agree with him. He grabbed hold of Tezuka's arm and shook it frantically.

Tezuka kept his eyes shut, ignoring his vice-captain's plea. What could they do? If he could, he would also want to look for the prodigy, however, they had to face reality, it wasn't safe out there. Heck, it wasn't safe anywhere.

Tezuka had to be responsible and think not only about his own team, but about the other two teams. It was too dangerous to take any risks.

Oishi eventually gave up trying to get Tezuka to agree, and instead, turned to look at all of the middle schoolers.

"Guys. I know that we're not really friends, but Fuji's missing. You may or may not like him, but please, please, help us to find him!" Oishi tried to convince the rest to search with him.

"Oishi..." Kikumaru muttered. "Oishi! I'll search with you nya! I want to find Fujiko too!"

Under his breath, so no one else to hear him, he said, "It's my fault. I was there with Fuji when he went missing."

"Eiji..." Oishi smiled, relieved to know that someone was as worried as him.

"Mada mada dane. Oishi-senpai." Echizen smirked, using a finger to push his white cap up, grinning at his vice-captain. That was Echizen's way of saying that he'll help too.

"Oishi. We'll all concerned, but you have to face the facts. We don't know who is lurking out there, we can't put ourselves all at risk by looking for one person." Yukimura tried to reason.

"That's right." Sanada agreed. "Even if we did search, Atobe's place is too large. It'll take us days to cover the whole area!"

"We'll make it work! If we all do it together, we can split up and cover the distance within a few hours." Kikumaru jumped up, holding a fist in the air, as if he was trying to lift his team's morale during a match.

The crowd started to mumbled amongst themselves, while Kikumaru and Oishi awaited anxiously for what they hoped to be good news.

"Renji." Inui looked at the other data master. "What do you think the probability of us finding Fuji is?"

"Sorry Sadaharu," Yanagi admitted. "Unfortunately, the probability is very low. Less than 5% chance, even with leniency."

"..." Inui frowned, and looked down at his shoes, watched how the white colour of his shoes contrasted greatly with the dull blue carpet. He had also came to the same conclusion, but had hoped that Yanagi had better results than him.

"However, if we do split up and do a thorough search through Atobe's villa, the chances would increase to about 10%."

Inui immediately looked up at the Rikkai Master, face shining with newfound hope. "Really Renji?"

Yanagi nodded. "That's still a pretty low percentage though."

Inui shook his head. "Even if it's just one percent difference, it's still a lot."

"We're going ahead with the search aren't we?" Yanagi asked, even though he already knew the answer.

Inui nodded.

"How are we going to convince the rest though?"

Both data players stared at the other tennis players, who still had doubt written all over their faces. It wasn't going to be an easy task.

"Renji, is it alright with you if I ask you to-"

"Convince my teammates? Sure." Yanagi agreed, without even waiting for Inui to complete his sentence.

Seigaku, besides Tezuka (even though he actually wanted to), was set on searching for Fuji, thus, the only thing to do was to convince Rikkaidai and Hyoutei to aid them. Since Yanagi was in charge of Rikkai, Inui was in charge of Hyoutei.

'Hyoutei listens to Atobe. If I can just get Atobe to agree, the rest of the Hyoutei team would be in it as well.' Inui thought. The problem was. How was he going to convince Atobe?

Inui was busy pondering over that when he heard an, "Inui-senpai."

"Yes Echizen?" The first year was standing in front of the data player.

"You need help convincing Atobe to search with us don't you?"

"Eh? How d-" Inui was surprised.

"Mada mada dane, Inui-senpai." Echizen gave the stunned third year a grin and walked up to the purple haired diva, who had settled himself comfortably on one of the couches. Echizen stopped less than a foot away from the diva, and looked straight into Atobe's face.

"Ahn~? What do you want brat?"

"Help us with the search."

"Why should ore-sama do something like that?"

"Because," Echizen smirked, "this is your villa."

"So?" Atobe raised an eyebrow, not understanding where Echizen was going at.

"Fuji-senpai went missing in your villa. Therefore, it's your responsibility to find him."

Atobe narrowed his eyes at the first year, who was grinning at him. Atobe lifted an arm and placed it around the backrest of the couch, crossing his legs.

"Ore-sama normally would make sure that his servants would search every nook and cranny, but this is different. Why should ore-sama place himself in danger?"

"So you're saying that you're scared?"

"What?" Atobe's eyes narrowed even further, a frown etched onto his face.

"I'm saying that you, Monkey King, are too scared to look for Fuji-senpai. That's why you refuse to help us."

Atobe slid his arm off the back of the couch, placing both palms onto his knees, and leaned forwards, so that he was right in front of the smirking first year's face.

"Brat." He sneered. "Ore-sama do not get scared."

Echizen was not unnerved by the purple haired diva's actions, and stood his ground, challenging the third year.

"Your actions are different from your words."

Atobe shot a death glare at the first year, and growled.

"Ore-sama will show you how ore-sama isn't scared." Atobe leaned back into the couch. Lifting up his right hand, he snapped his fingers and declared, "Hyoutei will join the search."

"Atobe!" There were sounds of disapproval from the Hyoutei regulars, but Atobe silenced them all with a glare.

"Listen to me or I'll have you all taken off the regulars positions."

They kept their mouths shut immediately.

By that time, Echizen had already walked back to Inui. "There, Inui-senpai, done."

Opening and closing his mouth like a goldfish, Inui quickly scribbled down new data about his freshman teammate.

On the other side, Yanagi had no troubles convincing the Rikkai regulars to join. All he had to do was spout out some data, in addition to logical reasoning as to why aiding in the search would benefit them.

It wasn't as if the Rikkai Master had been lying. What he said did have some truth to it. If they searched the mansion, they would be searching not only for Fuji, but for the culprit's hiding spot at the same time. It was basically killing two birds with one stone. That was, if Fuji and the culprit was somewhere in the mansion. Even if they weren't, the tennis players would know that the mansion was free of any unwanted company.

Thus, as all three teams were convinced, and as they had an even number of people (20 when you add Taki), they decided to go in pairs and allocated different areas to the pairs to check.

"Come back here after you're done." They agreed and left.


If they had looked out of the window, they might have spotted a girl leaning against the trunk of one of the trees surrounding the mansion. She held a pair of binoculars as she observed the tennis players in the mansion. Putting it down slowly, she took out a handheld transceiver from her backpack and pressed a red button.

"Come to G8 right now. Over." The girl commanded to a person on the other side of the handheld transceiver.

"On it. Over."

It only took a few seconds before her accomplice arrived, still fully dressed in black, blending in the darkness of the night. The moonlight was the only source of light at that time of day.

"What is it?" The male asked, tugging his mask off his face.

"I want you to prolong this camp to at least a week. 2 days is too short."

The male seemed surprised at the girl's request, but nodded anyway.

"I don't care how you do it, but make it quick." She shooed the male away with a flick of her hand. Running her hands through her hair, she untangled strands of hair that somehow managed to tangle themselves.

Putting the binoculars back up to her eyes, she observed the tennis players again as they spread out across the whole mansion.


Ring. Ring.

Ryuuzaki-sensei was soundly asleep when she was awoken by the ringtone of her telephone.

"Eh? Who the hell calls at-" She checked her bedside clock. "-1:34am!?"

Still, since she was already awake, she picked up the phone with an annoyed, "Yes?"

"Ah, Ryuuzaki-sensei. I'm sorry for disturbing you this early in the morning."

"Oh, Tezuka, it's okay. What is it?"

"I would like to inform you that we've extended our training camp to a week. Would you mind informing our parents that as well?"

"A week? Are you sure?"

"Hn."

"Oh okay. I'll do that." Ryuuzaki-sensei stifled a yawn.

"Thanks, Ryuuzaki-sensei."

"No problem. Bye." Placing the telephone back down, she yawned again and plopped back onto her queen-sized bed.

"Why is my team so troublesome…?" She sighed. "Now I have to call each and every one of their parents."

Rolling onto her back, she placed her hands over her eyes. "I'll do that when I wake up." She drifted off to sleep again in a jiffy.


"-inform you that we've exten-"

"Tezuka?" Fuji muttered, hearing the familiar voice of his captain on the other side of the door.

Fuji had been sitting on the bed, thinking about ways to escape from the room when he heard a voice from the other side of the door.

'What's Tezuka doing?' Fuji thought, leaning as far forwards as the handcuff allowed him to, trying to hear the conversation a little clearer.

"-parents that as well?"

'Inform? Parents? What is he saying?' Fuji was puzzled. 'Where am I anyway. Am I in the mansion?'

"-anks, Ry-"

Fuji swore that he almost heard a name, a name that he knew so well.

"Tezuka!" He called out, tugging on the handcuff, trying to get even closer to the door.

"TEZUKA!"

Silence followed shortly after.

Creak.

The door slowly swung open, revealing a male, that even in the darkness, Fuji knew was not Tezuka. Fuji shrunk back, hitting his back against the wall.

'Who is this?' He thought, his heart rate increasing due to fear.

"I'm not your captain, boy." The male placed one hand on the side of the door, keeping it from shutting. "I suggest you sit here quietly like a good boy before anything happens to you."

The male didn't move, staying still in the same position, as if awaiting a reply from Fuji.

Fuji frowned and nodded his head. He sworn that he had heard Tezuka's voice. Who was this man and where was Tezuka?

Satisfied with Fuji's reply, the man walked backwards out of the room and shut the door with a click.

Again, Fuji heard voices, not Tezuka's this time, but Atobe's, as well as Yukimura's.

'What is going on here?' Fuji was really confused, unable to think straight anymore.


"Mission done, missy. Over."

The girl growled. "Don't call me missy, or I'll have your head chopped off."

"You didn't say over. Over."

"Don't tell me what to do!" She snapped. "Ignoring what you've said, good job. Over."

Stuffing the handheld receiver back into her backpack, she hoisted it over her shoulder and ran through the dense forest, only stopping after what seemed to be 700 metres. Using a rope, she hooked the end onto one of the windowsills of the mansion, climbing up it with grace. Peering through the window, she took note of her position and smiled.

Settling herself into a comfortable position where she would not be seen from the inside, she waited.


It wasn't until a couple of hours later, when dawn broke, did the tennis players finally complete their hunt and gather back up in the recreation room.

"Found anything?" Tezuka asked.

All of them shook their heads.

"We've checked wardrobes, toilets, under furniture, heck, even in the fireplace and up the damn chimney! But nothing, nothing at all." Kirihara declared.

"I searched on the stupidly large chandelier in one of the rooms!" Mukahi challenged. "Bet you can't do that Kikumaru!"

"Hoi?" Kikumaru was surprised to be suddenly brought into the conversation. "I can so!"

"Wann-"

"Gakuto..." Oishitari interrupted, pointing at the three captains, who were not pleased by their childishness.

"So...what we did was basically useless." Hiyoshi said, dropping onto the floor to take a rest.

"No." Yanagi said, causing everyone to turn their attention onto him. "Although we've not found Fuji, we've cleared the possibility of anyone suspicious hiding in the villa."

"And...what's the point of that?" Marui said. "Even if they're not in the mansion, they still somehow keep getting to us."

"So you're basically saying that the creeps are hiding like monkeys on trees in the forest out there?" Niou asked.

"Basically. Yes."

"What?" Kirihara exclaimed. "Are we meant to search the whole forest too?"

"Akaya." Yanagi folded his arms across his chest. "That would be illogical."

"The forest spreads out over miles of land. It'll be impossible for us to look through it." Inui pushed his glasses up on his nose. "However, we now have a sense of ease to know that the culprits are not staying right under our noses."

"Oh..."

"Wait." Hiyoshi paused. "No. Not really."

Inui stared blankly at the second year. "Is there something wrong with my data?"

"Even if the murderer isn't in the mansion. It isn't as if I'm more at ease."

"Oh..." That was true.

Oishi sighed. "I wonder where Fuji is...I hope he's fine..."

"Oishi." Tezuka placed a hand on his vice-captain's shoulder. "Keep hope. Fuji will not go down so easily like that."

"Ah, Tezuka." Oishi looked up at his captain. "You're right."

"Hn." Tezuka gave Oishi's shoulder a little squeeze, before removing his hand and letting it fall back to his side. Tezuka himself wasn't even so sure about his own statement. Sure, he wanted to believe in the idea that Fuji was alive and well, however, the circumstances and results of the search brought his hopes down.

"Fuji-senpai will be fine." Tezuka was startled by the sudden statement from the first year.

"It's Fuji-senpai after all." Echizen gave a tiny smile.

"Hoi! You're right O'chibi nya!" Kikumaru jumped a little, placing an arm around Echizen's neck.

"Kikumaru-senpai, it hurts!" He grumbled.

"Even if Fujiko is captured, he'll come up with some genius plan to escape!" Kikumaru ruffled Echizen's hair. "Fuji's Seigaku's Tensai after all!"

Even Oishi had to chuckle at the sight of Echizen trying to escape from Kikumaru's hold. "Mm. You're both right."

Oishi and Tezuka started to feel a little better, their hopes about Fuji came back within a second. They would never doubt any of their regulars. Keeping faith in each and every one of them was Seigaku's spirit.

(From a more logical point of view – It was better to keep hoping for the best, rather than fear for the worst.)


"I don't know about you all, but...I'm going back to sleep."

"Akaya! Don't just-!" Marui shouted, however, it was a little too late. The second year was already soundly asleep, resting his head on Yukimura's shoulder.

Marui groaned. "Bakaya..."

"It's fine Marui." Yukimura smiled at the red head, patting Kirihara's head while he slept.

"But Buchou. Isn't it your turn to sleep now? You guys didn't even get to sleep a wink."

"We can survive without sleeping for a day fatty."

"But-" Marui protested, ignoring the fact that Niou had called him a fatty.

"I'm not tired Marui, it's alright if he sleeps. As long as some are awake to keep watch." Yukimura shifted on the couch, gently placing Kirihara's head down onto his lap.

"I can't exactly sleep right now anyways." Ootori admitted. "It just doesn't feel right to... especially when we don't know about Fuji's condition."

"Hey..." Niou wondered. "Do you think that if we all try to walk to town, they would kill us?"

"I'm pretty sure we'd be dead. They had sent us a warning about what would happen if we tried to escape remember?" Atobe reminded him, "Plus, do not forget that our enemy probably has a machine gun."

"Ah true... the servant massacre..."

'And Jackal...'

Niou leaned back and looked up at the ceiling, humming a tune.

"Are we just going to sit here and do nothing for the whole day?" Mukahi asked. He was currently drawing random circles with his finger on the carpet.

"Hm..."

"Well, I don't know about you, but," Echizen stood up, adjusting his cap. "I'm going to get some Ponta."

He started to walk towards the door, but stopped halfway, turning around to look at Atobe.

"Monkey King. You do have Ponta don't you?"

"Ahn~? Ponta? They are in the kitchen." Atobe was too busy thinking about ways to get out of the villa and back to civilisation that he didn't bother about Echizen calling him 'Monkey King'.

Echizen turned back to face the exit and continued walking, this time, making it all the way there and leaving the room.

No one noticed that he had left alone. Only Taki did, swiftly following the first year to the kitchen.


Taki didn't know the boy with the white cap's name and jogged to catch up to him.

"Why are you here?" Echizen asked, looking at the young butler from the corner of his eye.

"Um...you left alone so...I thought that I should follow you." Taki scratched his head. "You know...since 'stuff' are happening and all..."

"Heh..." Echizen voiced out, but didn't complain about having Taki following him.

Taki took that as permission to follow and stuck to Echizen's side.

"Ponta. Ponta. Ponta." Echizen muttered as he rummaged through cupboards in search for his favourite drink.

"Um..."

Echizen stood up and brushed dust off his shorts, turning to look at Taki.

"The Pontas are here." Taki said, pointing to the open cupboard in front of him.

Echizen quickly made his way to the young butler and tip-toed a little bit, so that he could reach the Ponta that was on the cupboard shelf.

Taki quietly and gently closed the cupboard doors shut after Echizen had grabbed his Ponta.

Echizen opened the can with a snap, the gas bubbles could be heard as they fizzled. Taki made his way to the kitchen doors first, while Echizen only took two steps, stopping, threw his head back, and took a huge gulp from the can.

Placing a hand on the handle of the door, Taki swirled around as he waited for Echizen to follow him.

However, what he saw wasn't what he expected.

Instead of walking towards him like a normal, healthy person, Echizen was lying on the ground, shaking from the seizures that he received every few seconds.

Taki let out a huge, manly scream as he scrambled down the hallways.


Creak...

A lone figure pushed the window open, slipping into the room with ease.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Her boots sounded as they came into contact with the marble floor.

"Heheh." She chuckled maniacally, placing her left palm on her left cheek.

Reaching for the object that was slung over her right shoulder, she grabbed it and snap!

She flapped the photograph in the air as she waited for it to dry. Taking a look at it, she smiled.

"This should do it," She muttered, climbing back out through the window in which she came in through. As she dropped back down onto ground level, she brushed dust of her clothes and grinned.

"Nothing shall interfere with me and my darling Syuusuke." She let out a laugh, throwing her head back and arms into the air. "NOTHING!"


A/N: Feedback would be loved.