Angel: So after 5 months of not updating, here it is. Sorry for the delay. I know I've been uploading other drabbles/one-shots, so really I am sorry. I hope no one will kill me for this chapter~ it's not really that bad… I hope. Well do enjoy.

Warning: A little bit of OOC. A little angst.

Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer applies~

-'Changes'-

When he is scared with all the changes

Looking around the room, I sighed quietly. Everyone is so tense. Mom is pacing around, my big brothers were quiet as they sit and stare at me… awkward nya… my sisters, well as usual they are crying, they cry too much, but I guess that is a girl thing. I smacked myself in the head; I keep on forgetting I am also a girl now, but thankfully, I haven't adapted that part yet, all that crying. I'm not a crybaby nya. I leaned back on the hospital bed as I shift my view to the IV drops connected in my arm. I flinched again as I look away. Two kinds of liquid were actually dropping to two tubes that are inserted in my right arm. One was I think it's some kind of medicine nya, the other is… blood.

I shivered lightly, I'm scared… really scared…

I shut my eyes firmly. I don't understand anything nya. What was really happening to me? Am I dying?

I pursed my lips a little as the door opened; I expected to see my dad, but the smile I was prepared to give him turned into a grin when I saw my boyfriend instead. "FUJIKO!" I managed to yell, which made me wince in pain. "Ittai…" I held my head, massaging it to try and ease the pain.

"Eiko!" My mom yelled at me. "Don't yell like that, we still don't know what made you faint like that, so please, take it easy." She added in a soft voice, probably because of worry.

"Nya..." I nodded and gave her a sheepish smile that I know she can't stay mad at. "Sorry Oka-san." She nodded and gave me a tired smile, it was a bit painful to see my mom like that… she was so tired from all of these worrying, but she wasn't giving up.

"Hi Eiji, how are you?" Fuji said as he walks towards me and sat beside on the chair beside my bed, his ever perpetual smile was there, but I can see that it is a bit forced. I pouted at that and pinched his cheek which earned me a slight yelp from him.

"You look like you haven't slept for weeks Fujiko!" I grinned again. "And don't mind about me. I'm perfectly fine!" I said as I try to lighten up the mood, giving him a 'V' sign as he rub his now red cheek.

"You are obviously not fine; they stuck a tube pouring blood inside your body." Shinji-niichan commented.

"Shut up Onii-chan!" I stuck my tongue out to his direction. "I'm fine!" I stubbornly added.

Fuji shook his head and smiled at me, one of those real smiles of his that I really loved. I felt my heart warmed at the sight of it. I felt really special. "I'm just glad you're still energetic despite all of this Eiji." He said as he placed his hand over my own, squeezing it lightly. I'm glad he's by my side. I feel safe and warm.

Everyone was all sitting quietly as they watch Eiji talk with Fuji animatedly. It was like he isn't at the hospital at all. Sure he would sometimes stop, pant and twitch as a pain rush in, but he was still the hyper and energetic Eiji. It felt like home, like that they weren't all anxiously waiting for any news regarding Eiji's health.

"Ne, Oka-san, where's dad?!" Eiji pouted. "I'm hungry nya!"

Reina smiled a bit. "He went and talked to your doctor Eiko. And you can't eat yet. We still need to know what kinds of food are fine for you to take, if you are allowed to eat."

"That's so unfair! I want crabs… lobsters!" He grinned brightly. "I want to eat a lot."

Fuji chuckled. "You're going to get fat if you eat too much."

"Am not!" Eiji pouted and slightly glared at the tensai who just chuckled at his reaction.

Fuji was about to reply when his phone rang. He made a confused face before fishing his phone in his pocket and saw Oishi is calling him. "It's Oishi." He said as he saw Eiji's curious face peering at who the phone call might be from.

"Answer it nya!" The redhead excitedly exclaimed as he almost jumped on the bed if not for the IV tubes.

The tensai pressed the receive button and placed his phone on his ear. "Hello, Oishi?"

"Fuji! Are you okay? Practice has already started an hour ago. You didn't leave a message or something that you aren't coming. We're worried." He heard the mother-hen ramble.

"You're just the only one worried Oishi-senpai" Momo's voice pinched in.

He laughed at that. "I'm fine Oishi. I'm at the hospital though."

"Hospital?!" Oishi's voice went three pitches high. "Did something happen?"

Fuji looked at Eiji who held out his hand with a smile. He gave the phone to the girl who immediately talked to Oishi.

"Oishi~ nya~ it's me Eiji! Gomen ne for letting Fuji miss practice nya. I was rushed here in the hospital this morning." Eiji happily explained to the vice captain as if it was not a big thing at all.

Fuji heard a few muffled replies from Oishi that just made Eiji giggle.

"Don't mind, don't mind. I'm fine Oishi!" The red head then paused a little. "Ehhh?" Eiji eyes widened. "Inui wants to talk to me? Nya… Okay." He looked at Fuji nervously as Inui started talking on the other line. The red head cut him off "Inui. Mou~ don't even say that you predicted I'll be in the hospital or something a long those lines, because that will just be super creepy nya."

Fuji couldn't help but laugh out loud at that. Eiji will forever be Eiji, whether he's sick or not, and that's one of the things he loves about him. He was too positive on things. Little does Fuji knows how scared and confused Eiji were…

After a few more minutes of talking on the phone, Eiji's father came back. He has this confused nevertheless solemn face, but he smiled to his family as he turned to them.

"Otou-san!" Eiji whined, pouting one again in the process as he clicked the end call button. "What took you so long…"

His father chuckled. "Sorry about that dear, your doctor just couldn't find what's wrong with you. So we talked for a long time."

"What do you mean by that?" Eiji's mom said, worry was evident in her voice. Not finding what was wrong when someone literally vomited a large quantity of blood was a bad sign, for her that is.

Ichitaka shrugged as he went and sat beside his wife. "That was the problem. When the results on her blood test and X-ray scans came out, they couldn't find anything wrong with her. So they suggested for a full body CT scan and let Eiko stay here in the hospital till they find out what's wrong." He then sighed tiredly. "They said that with all that blood that she lost when she threw up here in the hospital, it wasn't normal at all."

Reina leaned on Ichitaka and closed her eyes, tired. "I hope they find out what's wrong with her soon…"

Eiji quietly watched his parents and siblings mulled on the news. Somehow, deep inside he knew they wouldn't find anything. He pursed his lips together has he held on Fuji's hand tightly, making the tensai look at him worriedly.

What if this was a side effect of him being a girl? Maybe his insides were all mixed up because of the change, that's why he threw up all those blood earlier, an hour before Fuji came in. All he remembered was he cough out blood and fainted at home, then when he woke up inside the hospital he threw up a lot of blood. And when he said a lot, he means a lot.

"Eiji?" Fuji whispered a bit, seeing as the red head had paled.

Eiji swallowed hard. He was having difficulty to breathe again. He was hyperventilating with all the fear he was feeling. He felt all the walls were crumbling down on him. His head and chest hurt, like it was burning from with in.

"Eiji?!" Fuji then repeated, louder this time as Eiji didn't respond but was obviously breathing hard. "Eiji, are you okay?" His voice laced with panic as the rest of Eiji's family members rushed to them, all had concern written across their faces.

"I'll call the nurse." Atsushi yelled before dashing outside the door to the nurse's station.

"Eiko!" Reina lightly tapped Eiji's cheek. "Relax Eiko, breathe slowly." She had tears in her eyes as she watches her baby's glassy eyes full of panic.

Eiji slowly nodded as he tried to calm himself, he still held Fuji's hand tightly, never letting go.

The doctor came in and shooed the rest away to give Eiji some space and started working on him, checking his vitals and his IV drops.

Fuji gave Eiji's hand a small squeeze before letting go so the doctor can check him fully. They all went to near the door as they watch the doctor and nurses go about checking Eiji, as the red head was still unresponsive.

Once Eiji was calmed down and finally relaxed, the doctor gave him a few sleeping pills to let him sleep. He then asked the family to monitor him for any changes before leaving.

As Eiji sleep, Fuji bid goodbye to the Kikumaru Family and said he'll be back, with probably the whole tennis regulars, later to check on the red head. Reina smiled and assured the petit boy that they are more than welcome to visit anytime.

At the afternoon practice, Fuji told and explained to everyone what happened. This eventually caused for the practice to be cut short and all the regulars leaving early to visit Eiji. All of them somehow couldn't practice properly with out seeing if the red headed girl was okay. It was weird, since they haven't known her that long, but to them she was some kind of light. They all wanted to protect and be there for her.

"Are you sure it's fine with her family if we all visit?" Kawamura ask as they walk towards the hospital.

Fuji nodded. "Eiji's mom said we are welcome anytime. And I'm sure Eiji will be happy to see us all."

Shifting his bag a little, Ryoma stopped at an arcade. "Ne, senpai… we should bring something for Kikumaru-senpai." He said eyeing a cute cat stuff toy as he lowered his cap and sip his Ponta.

The rest of the regulars looked at each other before nodding.

"There's a cake shop across the street." Oishi smiled a bit. "I'll buy one." He said as he walked towards the crossing. "Wait here."

"Yosha!" Momo rolled his sleeves up. "Come on Echizen." He pushed the small boy inside the arcade. "Let's get that cat you've been looking at." He snickered a bit as the freshman started protesting about being dragged against his will.

Fuji chuckled. "Saa, then I'll just buy some flowers." He then looked at the rest of the regulars. "I'll be back. And Inui, no, Eiji won't be happy with your juice as your present." He laughed a little before leaving the three regulars there in front of the arcade as he round the corner.

"Ii data…" Inui mumbled as he wrote on his notebook. Kawamura just smiled sheepishly and dialed the phone number of his house in his cellphone to ask his father to make some sushi for them. Kaidoh shook his head and walked inside the convenient store beside the arcade.

As Fuji rounded a corner to buy some flowers, he saw a small jewelry shop. Thinking that Eiji might like something he can keep instead of just flowers, he opted to go the jewelry shop instead. The owner smiled at him and asked if he was looking for anything in particular. Fuji shook his head and explained that he's looking for a gift for his girlfriend who was in the hospital. The owner nodded and let him browse the merchandise and told him to just call her when he find something he likes before going at the back of the shop.

Fuji was looking through the necklaces for quite a while when the owner came back out with a box in her hand. She motioned for Fuji to come by and see what she took out. Confused, Fuji went near the counter as the owner opened the box.

"It's one of our new products. My husband just made this actually." She smiled at Fuji as she took out the necklace from the box. "You see, all of these jewelries are made by my husband. He melts the silver and personally makes the jewelries to sometimes suit our costumer tastes. I was talking to him about you and your girlfriend when he told me that he thinks this would be a perfect gift. He just made this earlier." She handed out the necklace to him.

Fuji stared in awe at the necklace. It was indeed perfect. The silver long rectangular pendant was holding two very small Rhine stones on the side, one violet and the other one was blue. It was simple but very unisex. Even a guy could wear the necklace and won't look bad with it.

"I'll take it." Fuji placed the necklace back on the box. "Can you put something on it? Engrave some words?" He politely asked.

The owner nodded. "Of course. Just write what you want to be engraved here and it'll be done in a minute." She once again smiled and gave him a small piece of paper to write on.

It took around an hour before the regulars had been completed again to head towards the hospital. Fuji had decided to still buy flowers after buying the necklace. He decided to give it to Eiji when they were alone so the red head wouldn't be embarrassed when everyone starts teasing them.

About half an hour later, they have all reached the hospital and was bombarding Eiji with a lot of questions. Eiji was so overwhelmed but very happy that his friends were there. He happily answered all of the questions and chatted with everyone.

"Nya! Ochibi! The cat looks like you~~!" He giggled as he hug the small stuff toy. "I'm gonna name him Ryoma." He grinned as the smaller boy groaned and the rest of the regulars laughed.

"Are you sure you're really sick Kikumaru-senpai?" Momo commented as he pop another sushi in his mouth. "You are too energetic, just too energetic." He shook his head and grinned.

Eiji laughed and ruffled Momo's hair. "You guys just came with all of these food and gifts! How could I not be energetic!" He smiled then looked at everyone. "Nya~ thank you for coming and visiting me."

Fuji shifted comfortably beside Eiji as he held the redhead's hand. He squeezed it lightly as one by one the regulars started saying goodbyes and promises to be back tomorrow. As Inui left the room, he slid out the box from his pocket and placed it on Eiji's hand.

"I'll see you tomorrow." He then kissed Eiji on the forehead and smiled before leaving.

Eiji blinked twice before looking at the box in his hand. He excitedly smiled as he removes the ribbon and opened it. He gasped at the beautiful necklace. He quickly took it out and stared at it. He then blushed as he read the words engraved on it.

No matter what you are, I would always love you.

-Syuusuke

End of Chapter

A/N: Sorry for the delay. And sorry if this was a bit short. I am building up the fact that the change is affecting Eiji gravely. But there is more than that~ I guess 3 or 4 more chapters and the story is finished. I might make a sequel though. Maybe this time revolving around the Dirty pair? I'm open up for suggestions. Though I'm mainly doing One-shots or more like drabbles now a days.

Reviews are loved.