Three days..it had been days since their parting. Three days since Fuji Syusuke had disappeared from school. His classmates and senseis had been pestering him about Fuji but he couldn't tell them what had happened to him. He wished they would stop asking him about Fuji and just leave him alone. The events from three days ago continued to play in his mind like a broken VCR looping and looping. Ever looping. He sat there in the club room, elbows resting on his knees, face buried in his hands.

"Eiji sempai.Eiji sempai(1)?!" he heard a familiar voice calling him.

"Nyah.?" he uttered and looked up to see Momo who noticed his bloodshot eyes and immediately freaked.

"Eiji-sempai?! Are you okay??!" he exclaimed worriedly. He hadn't seen Eiji for the past two days. He had told Oishi and Tezuka that he wasn't feeling well to explain his two day absence. In fact, he was rather surprised to see him here for their Saturday afternoon practice. But the truth was, Eiji hadn't felt like he could face the rest of the regulars in his current state. That very same day when he returned, he had avoided Oishi's eyes and headed straight for the club room to grab his bag and leave since practice was over by the time he returned. He quickly averted his eyes from Momo and looked back down. Perhaps he shouldn't have come.

":......Aaaa...nyah... I'm fine." he muttered quietly. Momo looked at Eiji worriedly. First, Fuji sempai had disappeared without a trace for 3 days, and now Eiji-sempai was behaving strangely. The normally genki and hyper acrobat had lost all of his spunk.

"Really??!?!" he said in disbelief but there was no reaction from Eiji. "Wait a sec. I'll go get Oishi sempai!" that said, he ran out of the club room. Looking around frantically, he finally spotted Oishi over at a corner having a serious conversation with Tezuka. "Oishi sempai!!!" he called out as he ran over to the two of them.

Back in the club room, Eiji leaned back against the wall and simply stared blankly into space allowing the scene to continue looping in his mind. Try as he might, he couldn't stop it. He was hopelessly trapped in his despair when he heard the door open and close once more and a comforting voice speak to him.

"Eiji.what's wrong." Oishi asked him concerned, placing one hand on his friend's shoulder. Eiji turned to look at him. Perhaps.if he could tell Oishi.he could make everything better again.

"Oishi." he began, eyes beginning to tear again. How often had he cried? He had already forgotten the hours he had spent crying alone in his room, on the roof of the school..even in the club room when no one had arrived. He wanted to tell him.wanted to tell someone.of the painful void that seemed to completely engulf his heart right now.but he couldn't bring himself to say it. By saying it.he admitted that, he was really lost to him. Oishi looked at him and decided he had to ask. The phone call Tezuka had received had, disturbed both of them.

".Fuji called Tezuka just now." he began and Eiji's eyes widened. Something had definitely happened. "He told Tezuka that he is quitting the tennis club.and is in the process of quitting school. At the moment.he is just waiting for the approval from school.Eiji.what happened.?" he finished and watched his friend's reaction carefully. Eiji's eyes widened further then he would've thought possible.

"No way...no way..Fuji.." he felt himself disappearing deeper into the raging whirlpool of emotions. Everything was happening so fast.. He hadn't expected Fuji to move this fast. The darkness tightened its embrace around Eiji's heart. This couldn't be happening. it was all a dream.. A really bad dream..it just had to be..but if it was.why was he hurting so...? Why did he feel like the world had come crashing down on him?

"Eiji.what happened." Oishi tried again when he still had not answered.

"HE'S GOING TO LONDON!! HE'S LEAVING!!!!!!!!!!" Eiji suddenly burst out and immediately broke down, burying his face into his hands once more, his body trembling. Oishi looked at his friend in horror. Fuji was leaving? What had happened that had made him decide to leave?! Fuji was not the kind to suddenly just pack up and leave without some sort of reason.

"Eiji." he uttered. "What exactly happened that day.?" he asked tentatively. If he was going to help his friends, he needed to know what happened. But whether Eiji was clear headed enough to tell him was a different matter.

"I don't know nyah!! I DON'T!!!!!" he cried out between sobs

"........shouldn't you go to talk to him?" he finally said after a moment of silence.

"...I don't know how to face him... Oishi...." Eiji muttered behind his hands and Oishi gathered his friend in his arms trying to offer as much comfort as he could. There was nothing he could really do if he didn't know what exactly had happened. But it hurt him seeing his normally genki friend this way. For Eiji to cry like this, something really terrible must have happened between the two. But as he hugged the sobbing Eiji hoping to calm him down a little, the door suddenly opened and in walked the person both of them least expected.

"Fuji?!" Oishi suddenly exclaimed and released Eiji whose head shot up and saw Fuji standing there looking at them.

"Fuji..?!" he thought to himself as he froze. His mind went blank as he stared at Fuji.

"Ah forgive me! I just came to get my stuffs. Don't mind me," he smiled and went straight to his shelf to pack his stuff. So what if he had seen Oishi hugging Eiji. It didn't matter to him anymore. Eiji hadn't wanted him in the first place. Regardless of how he much he was hurting inside right now he would smile.they were his friends after all. Oishi regarded the two of them for a moment before coughing and standing up.

"I'll head out first then. Tezuka wanted to discuss something with me," he said, nudging Eiji lightly before standing up to leave the room, closing the door behind him. He hoped that the two of them could settle whatever dispute they had and hopefully, Fuji would give up his crazy plan to leave for London.

An uneasy silence descended on the room as Fuji continued packing his things into his bag seemingly oblivious to Eiji's continued presence. He took his time to pack not wanting to look like he was in a hurry to leave. Eiji watched him, unable to move, nor utter a sound. Fuji had seen Oishi hugging him.but.there was nothing between them! He took a deep breath and gathered up the little courage he had.

"F.Fuji." he called quietly but Fuji did not turn back and just continued to pack.

"Yes?" he replied in a scarily normal tone and Eiji stiffened.

"Are you.still..angry with me.Fuji.?" he asked tentatively, not daring to breathe and then.Fuji turned around, and the expression on his face was enough to wrench his heart out of his chest. He felt like his soul had just been shattered into a million pieces with that almost, harmless expression.

"Of course not.why would I be angry with you Kikumaru?" Fuji replied still smiling and looking straight at Eiji. Again.his last name.The look on Eiji's face almost made him falter.but.there was no turning back anymore.not after what had happened.He had made his decision.he wouldn't go back now.there was no place for him here anymore.

"How could he just smile like that?! Didn't he feel anything at all when he saw Oishi hugging me?! Fuji." he thought in disbelief and he felt the anger rising. He hadn't expected Fuji to be this heartless.he looked down, feeling the warm tears welling up in his eyes. "....Nothing," he finally said bitterly after a long moment and ran out of the room before Fuji could see his tears fall. Fuji watched him go feeling like a whole chunk of him had died.

At the sound of the club room door slamming open, Oishi turned away from his conversation with Tezuka and Ryuzaki sensei only to see Eiji running away crying.

"Damnit." and began running after his friend. "Oy! Eiji!" but Eiji didn't slow down until he finally managed to catch up with him and grab his hand, forcing him to halt. "What happened?!" he demanded gently.

"HE DOESN'T CARE!! At all!!!! I hate him!!! I hate him!!!" Eiji shouted almost vehemently as he snatched his hand away, tears running freely down his cheeks. He looked down, not wanting to meet Oishi's eyes. Not wanting to let him see how much he was hurting because of Fuji's heartlessness. Oishi look at his friend and clenched his fists. Fuji had gone too far.even if it had been Eiji's fault that had caused this whole mess, Fuji should've known better then to make it worse like this.

"Calm down Eiji.I'll talk to Fuji.clear everything up." he said quietly and turned to head to the club room only to be held back by Eiji who had grabbed his wrist upon hearing his words.

"NO!!" he protested violently and Oishi looked back in shock at Eiji who was still looking down.

"Eiji.?" he began but stopped when Eiji looked up. His eyes widened. Eiji forced a sad smile through his tears. The part of him that knew he deserved the way Fuji was treating him now had taken over once more. The anger subsided. How could he be angry with him when he was the one who had practically asked for it? It was useless to try and salvage any sort of friendship between them anymore and he knew it. Thus.he would give Fuji up.

"... I don't care anymore... It's over... tell buchou(2) I'm not feeling well..." he said quietly, still smiling through his tears before turning around and walking out the school gate leaving Oishi dumbstruck.

With that admittance, he had felt like a whole chunk of him had died but.he really didn't want to care anymore.he never deserved Fuji to begin with.Fuji was.a tensai(3).both in and out of the tennis courts, calm, matured and kind. He on the other hand.his studies were horrible, he was childish and immature and practically the opposite of tensai Fuji Syusuke. His heart had leapt for joy when Fuji had confessed his feelings to him two weeks ago but he hadn't given him an answer then and had spent a week thinking about it before coming to the conclusion that, Fuji would probably be better of with someone like Tezuka who was more suited for the tensai and thus, had begun his match making. He hadn't counted on Fuji finally losing his temper and making his decision to leave for London. That had been too sudden. The more he thought about it.the more his head hurt..And he had never told Fuji his true feelings.not then.when he had the chance to stop Fuji.and never again in the future.He broke into a run all the way home. Not stopping till he had slammed the door of his room shut and locked it before throwing himself onto his bed.

Oishi, in the meantime, had turned to go confront Fuji only to discover Fuji approaching him, eyes opened and looking rather grim.

"Oishi.do you have the time." he asked as came to a halt right in front of Oishi. He could tell that Oishi was probably mad at him over making Eiji cry like that. After all, it was rare to see Eiji cry. When Oishi nodded his head slowly he walked pass Oishi. "Follow me." Oishi watched Fuji for a moment before taking a deep breath to calm himself and followed Fuji to a small park near the school where he finally stopped next to a fountain and turned around to face Oishi, the grimness replaced with sadness and Oishi felt his anger seeping away upon seeing that expression of overwhelming sadness.

"Fuji.what exactly.happened between you and Eiji." he asked when Fuji made no move to begin the conversation. Fuji simply looked away into the fountain.

"It's better this way." he finally said after a moment's silence and turned back to meet Oishi's wide eyes.

"Better.? What do you mean by that? What happened.Fuji?!" he asked for the second time, struggling to keep the frustration out of his voice. All this beating around the bush made it hard for him to keep his cool. Fuji carefully composed his words as he related the whole incident to Oishi. He didn't know why he was telling him all this but, he supposed Oishi should know.so he carefully related the whole thing in as neutral a way as possible which was difficult since he could only tell his side of the story. If he wanted to know everything, then he'd have to get Eiji to tell him himself.

"Eiji.did that? But why?" upon hearing the story, he too found himself confused by Eiji's strange actions. He knew that Eiji did have feelings for Fuji. Then why?

"Who knows." Fuji replied with a shrug. "It's okay though. If Eiji doesn't except me it's okay. It doesn't matter anymore anyway.I don't think I'll come back after I leave.there's nothing here for me anymore." he added as an afterthought.

"But Fuji.what about the team? Surely there's something else that can convince you to stay? I'll talk to Eiji." but was cut short by Fuji shaking his head slowly, looking down at the ground.

"Sorry Oishi.there's nothing that can convince me to stay.Staying would just make me a burden to the team in my current state.I'll be leaving in 2 days.Tell the others goodbye for me.I don't think I could face them, not with the Zenkoku Tournament nearing so soon." he said with a tone of finality, looking up at Oishi. The two looked at each other for a moment before Fuji turned away. "Sayonara Oishi(4)." Oishi watched his friend leave, if he didn't do something fast, both of them would probably regret this for the rest of their lives. As he walked back to the school tennis courts, he decided he would pay Eiji a visit tomorrow afternoon. Fuji was leaving on Monday.there wasn't much time left.

That evening.two souls.separated by only a mere few blocks and yet..felt so much further.switched on the hifi hoping to fill the void that filled each of their hearts where the other should have been.lying in their beds.shedding no more tears.slowly drifting off to sleep to the haunting music.a single tear escaping as they embraced the darkness of the night.

+++++++++++++++

My Immortal
By Evanesence

i'm so tired of being here

suppressed by all of my childish fears

and if you have to leave

i wish that you would just leave

because your presence still lingers here

and it won't leave me alone

these wounds won't seem to heal

this pain is just too real

there's just too much that time cannot erase

when you cried i'd wipe away all of your tears

when you'd scream i'd fight away all of your fears

and i've held your hand through all of these years

but you still have all of me

you used to captivate me

by your resonating light

but now i'm bound by the life you left behind

your face it haunts my once pleasant dreams

your voice it chased away all the sanity in me

these wounds won't seem to heal

this pain is just too real

there's just too much that time cannot erase

when you cried i'd wipe away all of your tears

when you'd scream i'd fight away all of your fears

and i've held your hand through all of these years

but you still have all of me

i've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone

and though you're still with me

i've been alone all along

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

1: Sempai - senior

2: buchou - captain

3: tensai - prodigy

4: Sayonara Oishi - Goodbye Oishi

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

A/N:

Here's Chapter 2!!! *grinz* Cosplay period so couldn't upload so fast. Gimme abit of time to add the translations to Chapter 3 and I'll post it up asap! *bows*

I've removed majority of the Japanese phrases from this chapter and replaced them with their translations this time round.

If you're reading this Regatto-san, XDDD my quest to convert more FujixEiji pairings fans continues!! MWA HA HA HA!!! ^o^