Conditions of Love

Disclaimer: Don't own. Blahhh!

Chapter 4

Twenty minutes into the surgery, the unexpected and the unreasonable happened. Yukimura's body began to shut down, refusing the air artificially being pumped into his body. Slowly, he was slipping into paralysis, a coma, a completely different world. The doctors didn't know what had happened, or why it was happening. They simply knew that it was dangerous, and the possibility of Yukimura losing his life had upped a large percentage.

Frantically, a nurse was sent outside to the waiting members of the Rikkai team. She attempted to calmly inform them of Yukimura's current situation, but was having a difficult time. The conditions that Yukimura was under seemed to be one in a million, and the nurse was completely taken by his strange reactions. Apparently, the Rikkai team was no calmer. Their lack of understanding didn't help the situation, either.

Demands were made. "Will he survive!" "This can't be happening! Don't your people know what they're doing!" "Make him better, now! I don't care how—just don't let him die!" The appalled nurse could do no more. Tears at the ready, she felt their immense concerns and knew she was completely unable to do anything. She was beginning to lose hope. She couldn't let them see it, though. No. She had to be strong, she had to offer them the only hope she could think of.

"Is there anyone you can possibly call? Anyone else close to him?"

One boy with his eyes closed, she didn't know who, simply said, "Sanada. He needs to know." He walked to the phone booth and dialed a number.

-----

Sanada had lost. No matter how incomprehensible the idea seemed, he had lost to Echizen Ryoma. But he had taken his defeat like a true captain of Rikkai. Echizen had apparently earned his win, and Sanada wasn't about to deny the younger boy's talent.

So Rikkai had come in second place. He hated to admit defeat, especially because everything all had come down to his match and his match alone. It didn't hurt him as much as it hurt to think of the broken promise he had made to Yukimura. He promised Yukimura the gold, but was going to present him with the silver. He knew Yukimura wouldn't be angry—Yukimura was past all of that—and he knew Yukimura would be proud no matter what, because he had led the team this far.

But he had promised the gold. Silver simply wasn't enough to satisfy him. He didn't want to, but began to believe that he wasn't good enough, that he hadn't been determined enough, to win Yukimura the promised gold medal. Disappointment began to cloud his mind. It didn't seem fair—Rikkai was undergoing hard times, and yet, Seigaku was the team who had claimed victory. Oddly enough, Sanada did not fail to recognize the fact that Tezuka, Seigaku's captain, was also not with his team due to his shoulder injury. Both Rikkai and Seigaku were missing the most fundamental part of their teams: their captains. And apparently, Sanada hadn't been enough to cover for his captain, while Oishi had managed to prove his worth to Seigaku.

Sanada's thoughts were interrupted by his beeping phone. He had a new voice message. "Sanada. Yukimura has gone into a comatose state. He needs you; the team needs you. Get to the hospital as quickly as you can."

The message was the least expected, and the least wanted thing Sanada had wanted to hear. Why now? Why Yukimura? Things just couldn't seem to get worse. Not only did he not succeed in attaining the gold, he wasn't there for Yukimura when his life could possibly be in great danger.

He hurriedly packed his things and began looking for the nearest bus stop.

-----

The doctors had barely managed to stabilize Yukimura's breathing. He now began to accept the air that was filling his lungs, but he still hadn't woken up. It was yet to be known whether he was still asleep due to the anesthesia or because of a coma. They were afraid because it would most likely be the latter, though they were always allowed to hope. The surgery was dismissed for fear of further complications, and Yukimura was carefully taken to a clean room in the ICU.

Sanada had just arrived at the hospital as Yukimura was being pushed down the hallway on a stretcher. Helplessly, he watched as he tried to estimate his captain's condition. I can't lose you now, Yukimura. Not when I haven't even told you, yet…

"Sanada. They say he'll be fine in time. For now, what he needs is rest. We don't know why the surgery didn't follow up as planned, but he's in a coma. You can visit him in a bit, when they allow it."

Sanada slowly turned to the voice, barely comprehending the words. "He's not dead. He's not going to die, right? We're all going to wake up, and when we do, Yukimura will be completely healthy and cured…"

Yanagi sighed. "No. This is reality, not a dream—no matter how much you want it to be. He's in a coma. There's nothing anyone can do now. Time is the only thing that can heal him."

Nothing was making sense to Sanada, nothing registering in his mind. Above all, he didn't want Yukimura to die. They had hardly had any time together—they had so much more to learn about one another, so many more memories to create. "Time…" he whispered.

-----

It felt like ages, but the doctors finally allowed them to go in one by one. Sanada was the first. He had so many things to say, so many things that Yukimura needed to know.

Upon entering the room, he was overcome with so many emotions. Yukimura looked different, somehow—more fragile and tiny than ever before. This was a completely different captain than the one Sanada knew. He hadn't seen Yukimura look so different except before his acceptance of Guillain-Barre. It scared him.

Slowly, he began to whisper.

"Yukimura… There's so much I need to tell you. I know I should've told you all of this earlier, before this all became out of control, and I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not winning the championship. You probably won't be angry, but I promised you a win. Yukimura, I promised you the gold. I fell short; not only of your expectations but my own. If you were there, you would have been able to do it. I wish I could have your determination, your courage. Look at you, now—still braver than me. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not being here for you when I promised that as well. I've broken so many of my promises to you—how can you even stand me? I'll understand if you don't later, I deserve as much. I will promise you one last thing, and if I can't fulfill this, I won't ever think of bothering you again. Yukimura, you should've known long before you underwent this; I should've told you. I love you, and I always will. I can't carry on without you any longer, so please, pull through this, if not for me, than for your sake. I know you're strong enough. This time, I'll be waiting for you, forever if need be. I love you—so much."

Seeing as there was nothing more he could say, Sanada slowly stood up. It was time for him to go. How he could bear to leave Yukimura was currently beyond his knowledge, but he managed to tear himself away. Kirihara entered soon after him.

He left the hospital then and began to wander the surrounding streets. As if to match Sanada's crying soul, the heavens opened up and a light rain began to fall. Looking up, Sanada began to lose himself in thought. Completely unaware of his surroundings, he wandered into the middle of the road. He failed to notice the car speeding towards him. There was a screech of brakes, the honk of a horn, and then a dull thud.

Sanada didn't know what happened. He only felt darkness beginning to overcome him. He didn't yet feel the pain, didn't feel the blood, didn't hear the voices calling out to him to see if he was all right. The rain continued to fall, and Sanada felt the drops mix with the tears he didn't know he'd been crying. He could only think of Yukimura. And yet, he had finally said it…

I love you.

And then, there was nothing.

-to be continued!

Hi. I've hardly had any time to update this story until recently (yay for fall breaks!) , and it's so short too t.t. Updates are becoming farther in between. :sigh: Well, chapter four is up :) and hopefully it was decent. Managed to get some plot in this chapter :D. Sorry if the speech-thing was kinda lame :(…looking back, he said sorry quite a bit, lol. Ah well, Sanada is so angsty :D. Hm, the style seems to have changed a bit from the first two chapters, too. Hope that's okay (?). What else... Oh, the medical stuff is probably not accurate, if anything--I tried XD. Oo, and it's a cliffhanger, so I'll try to update soon (or at least, sooner than this time around)! More next time :P.