Author's Note: Gee, I feel kinda bad for updating so much, 'cuz it keeps me at the top of the page... it feels unfair... But thanks for the reviews! Makes me happy. I appreciate all of them.

Anyways, Oishi's PoV still.

Enjoy!

Back in Eiji's newly cleaned room, sitting on his bed, I realized my reverie no longer had anything to do with the little golden bell in my hand. I looked at the object again, holding it up by the ribbon so I could see my reflection. No… these memories had everything to do with this object in my hand. They were all precious to me, just as the bell was precious to me. Just as Eiji was precious to me.

And that was all it really meant to me. That was my little secret. Of course, that wasn't really a secret. Everyone knew. Everyone could tell that Eiji was very dear to me. Eiji himself knew that most of all.

But did he really know how much?

If he knew everything, if he knew exactly how I felt about him, it might even scare him. There was a part of him that hated being this close to anyone. It made him vulnerable. He hated that. I still wonder why he's just let me get closer and closer…

And I wonder when he'll finally run away.

I haven't always wondered this. For a long time after that one, beautiful Christmas, I thought everything was perfect, and nothing could stand in the way of our blossoming friendship. Then I realized that Eiji had no idea what he was getting into, or even that I had figured him out so well.

I had been involved in student council throughout my junior high career, and one day late in my eighth grade year, I had an after-school meeting. This meant I couldn't walk home with Eiji, but that had happened before, and it was okay. It wasn't uncommon.

Eiji had a hard time remembering whenever I had a meeting. But usually he would figure it out and walk home by himself. But this day, I found him waiting outside my classroom door when school got out, something he didn't do very often. Usually this meant that he was excited about something, or he was upset and wanted to talk to me. Instinctively, I could tell it was the latter just by glancing at him. He smiled cheerfully, however, when I walked out the door. He never let himself seem upset until we had walked well out of range of other students' eyes.

"You almost ready?" He leaned over a little so he was looking up at me, with those huge, blue eyes…

I sighed, full of regret. "Eiji, I have a student council meeting today."

He stood back up, taking his eyes off of me and trying not to look disappointed. He wasn't bad at it.

"I'm sorry," I added, reaching out to touch his shoulder.

"No, don't worry." He backed away and smiled again, a smile that would have fooled anyone else. "I'll catch you later!" He waved quickly and walked away.

When he turned the corner, I ran the other direction, towards the classroom the council was meeting in. I burst in the door, said I couldn't stay, gave my apologies, and ran back to catch Eiji.

I met him a little ways down the street. I had to stop to catch my breath, and he just looked down at me, blinking.

"Oishi, what?"

"You wanted to talk to me, right?" I looked back up at him. He started a little, still not sure what the deal was. I decided to continue. "You wanted to walk home with me today so we could talk, right? Did something bad happen today in class? What's up?"

He was startled. He didn't know what to say. "How… how did…"

I placed my hand on his shoulder. This time he was too shocked to back away. "I can tell."

He met my gaze, but he couldn't hold it for long. Soon he pulled away, blushing. "But it was… it was silly!" he choked out. "It was just… just a hard day. I had two tests and I lost my homework and I tripped in the hallway and so some of the girls started laughing at me… and…. and… How did you know?"

I held out my arms. "Eiji…"

He shook his head. "Thanks, Oishi; I'm okay… I'm just… Well, I was trying... But…" His voice was full of tears. Not wanting me to see him cry, he just turned away. And he ran.

I didn't try to catch him. If he wanted to run, I knew I should let him run. But I wished he wouldn't. If he really had been a cat, I would have made him wear that little bell, so I'd never lose him; and if he ran, I could always follow him and hear the bell and know he wasn't far.

But he wasn't a cat. He was a person.

And he wasn't mine.

At that time, I felt sad, and I went home feeling a little sick, letting my depressing thought train get the better of me.

I looked back down at Eiji now. He was still sleeping.

Now I just felt grateful.

I hadn't done anything to deserve such a close relationship with my elusive doubles partner. I guess I was just lucky. Then again, probably no one really deserves wonderful friends, and I guess everyone's lucky in that way… But I couldn't help feeling especially lucky.

I smiled and leaned over, examining my best friend's features. Some things hadn't changed much since I met him; other things had changed a lot. The thing I noticed the most was how relaxed he looked, and how his features had changed from adorably awkward to rather graceful…

My eyes fell on the white bandage that stretched across part of his right cheek, and once again I plunged into the ocean of memory.

By the beginning of ninth grade, Eiji had rid himself of the bandage he'd worn across his nose for a year and a half. I don't know why he'd kept it on so long… It was probably because he wanted to make sure every trace of the injury had disappeared. Maybe he was just a little vain in that way…

In any case, I was just getting used to it. I still expected him to be wearing that white strip across his nose, but every time I looked over at him, it wasn't there. I kind of appreciated the change.

Things were really looking up at the beginning of that year. Eiji and I remained tennis team regulars (as well as Tezuka, our new captain), and I had been elected vice-captain. One day in practice, Eiji and I were crushing some other doubles team, and Eiji dove for a low shot. To keep himself suspended and make it easier to get up afterwards, he placed his wrist on the ground. Unfortunately, he landed on it wrong, and it gave out beneath him, causing him to skid a little across the court on his face. Namely, his right cheek.

I immediately ran to him. He sat up, a little dazed but pretty much fine. I checked his wrist, twisting it a little. No damage. I asked him if it hurt. He said it did a little, but assured me that it would be fine, saying that the shock of the quick pain was what caused it to give out. That seemed to be the case, from what I could examine. But I wasn't sure I believed him, because he was biting his lip. I then took a look at his face.

It was just a scrape, but there was one cut that had managed to open up considerably and was bleeding pretty badly. He must have hit a piece of gravel or something. As vice captain, I was in charge of the first aid kit, which I'd left in the locker room. So I led Eiji along with me to get it so I could clean his cuts in there.

Eiji sat on the bench and I shut the door behind me. I started to clean off some of the blood, when I saw a drop of water roll down his cheek into the cut, undoubtedly causing it to sting. He was crying.

"Eiji, what's the matter?"

He slapped his hands over his face. "I looked like an idiot out there!"

"Hey…" I gently pulled his hands back down and continued cleaning his face, now wiping off his tears as well as blood. "You really didn't, Eiji. And it's okay to feel like that once in a while."

He sighed and wiped his own eyes. "I know… it's just… it was hard not to cry."

I nodded, remembering how he'd been biting his lip. Then I prepared a cotton ball with alcohol. "This might sting a bit…" He flinched a little but didn't complain. Then I tried a treatment that was a bit unorthodox: I kissed him on the cheek where he had been cut.

To most people, that would seem very weird. But it was me and Eiji. We were so close that it wasn't really weird. At least, I didn't think it was. But I couldn't really say. I'd never done it before.

Eiji blushed pink, but he was grinning at the same time. I placed a new, white bandage on his cheek where the cut had been the worst, gave his shoulder a little pat to tell him I was done, and he thanked me. Then we went back to the court.

Right now, sitting so close to Eiji, staring at his face and thinking of all this, I couldn't help kissing his cheek again. But I didn't expect him to wake up because of it. I had to hastily stuff the bell in my pocket again before he could see it.

"Oishi?" he asked, not really asking. He stretched and smiled at me sleepily.

"Silly. You fell asleep," I said, staring into his half-open eyes.

"What time is it?" This was his usual waking-up question.

"Boys! Time for dinner!" his mother yelled, unknowingly answering her son's inquiry.

"Coming!" I replied, and, after I helped him out of bed, Eiji and I went downstairs.