All of Seigaku was gathered around the hospital bed that Fuji laid in. Eiji was leaning on Oishi, his face still wet from tears, as he looked down at the broken body of Fuji Syusuke.
'How could this have happened..especially to Fuji...,' Eiji thought painfully.
He looked around the room, scanning the faces of all the regulars. Ryoma was in the back with his cap pulled over his face, staring at the ground. Momo, who was right beside him, had his eyes shut tightly. On the right of Momo, was Kawamura, who like Ryoma, found something interesting about the floor. Inui stood in the corner alone, biting his lip. Kaidoh was sitting down beside the door, staring at his folded hands. Tezuka was the closest to Fuji, having sat in the chair beside his bed. Though his expression was unreadable, Eiji could tell from his empty eyes that he was in a lot of pain.
"Eiji?" Oishi whispered.
The young boy's head snapped up only to attach to the face of his Golden Pair partner.
"I was just making sure you were okay," Oishi said softly. "Are you?"
Eiji nodded slowly, and there was once more an awkward silence. For what seemed like hours, the regulars sat there in silence. Finally, a young, dark-haired female doctor opened the door. Her voice was friendly, but it didn't change the grim atmosphere in the room.
"Hello, you can just call me Dr. Oshuma." She smiled at everyone, then sighed when no one returned her smile.
"Will he live?" Tezuka asked in a voice barely above a whisper.
Dr. Oshuma smiled sadly, then responded, "I believe he will."
Everyone in the room let out the breath they were holding. Eiji laughed happily, and the whole ice seemed to break. Oishi hugged Eiji tightly, while Momo also began to laugh. Everything would be okay! The room had just gotten noisy from all the chatter when Dr. Oshuma silenced them.
"I am afraid...I have some bads news." She swallowed hard, then glanced at the tense faces of the Seigaku regulars.
"If..he does live..which I'm sure he will," she said quickly, seeing Eiji open his mouth to protest, "he will..be permanently blind."
No one spoke after those words left her mouth. They all just stared at her, not clearly comprehending what she just said.
Taka was the first to speak. "W-what do you mean b-blind?" he stuttered.
Dr. Oshuma had opened her mouth to answer when the door slammed open, and Yuuta and Yumiko burst in. They both paused, stopping to stare at every human in the room.
"Who are you? Where is aniki?" Yuuta asked, his voice rising slightly.
Dr. Oshuma bowed, and introduced herself once more. "I'm Kodai Oshuma, Fuji Syusuke's doctor. He is right over there." She pointed to the bed where Fuji laid sleeping quietly. "I would assume you are his little brother?"
Yuuta nodded, making his way through the crowd of regulars to stop beside Fuji's bed.
"And I'm Yumiko, his older sister," Yumiko stated. "What is his..condition?"
"Well, he will live, but..the severe damage to his head caused him to lose all of his eyesight."
Yumiko's eyes widened, and Yuuta gasped. "You mean..he..is..blind?" Yuuta choked. Dr. Oshuma nodded solemnly.
"Oh no..no..NO!" Yuuta moaned, kicking the table beside Fuji's bed. Yumiko buried her face in her hands, sobbing.
Yumiko, Yuuta, Tezuka, Eiji and Oishi stayed in that hospital room all day and night. The other Seigaku regulars had left earlier, casting sympathetic glances at Yumiko and Yuuta. Yumiko's sobbing had since then ceased. She now laid on a blanket on the floor beside Syusuke's bed. Yuuta had dragged up another chair so he could sit close to Fuji. Eiji now laid in Oishi's arms, half asleep. Tezuka stood alone in the corner, staring out the window.
Oishi smiled softly at the redhead that was nearly asleep in his arms. How peaceful he looked..Oishi hoped that Eiji would fall asleep and have wonderful dreams, comforting dreams, for that's just what he needed. Dreams that would take him away from this place, from this moment, to a place where he could soar and be happy. It was so unlike Eiji to be sad like this.
"Sweet dreams, Eiji," Oishi whispered, stroking the boy's hair gently.
Tezuka watched Oishi continue to stroke Eiji's hair, and almost smiled. Almost. He felt some happiness for his best friend, but it wasn't enough to drown out the pain he was currently feeling. He didn't want to believe this was happening..he couldn't believe this was happening..It just had to be a dream. Had to be. There was no way that the always smiling tensai was now laying in that hospital bed with no idea that he was blind. Blind... That word rang in Tezuka's head.
'No..I won't believe it..Fuji can't be blind..he just can't be..,' Tezuka thought. 'If he was blind, that would mean he'd never be able to play tennis again...' Tezuka froze with that thought as reality hit him like a brick. Fuji Syusuke, the tennis tensai, would never be able to play tennis..again? That just made Tezuka want to scream. Tennis was Syusuke's passion, Syusuke's obsession, the thing he loved the most... How would he ever be able to face the burden of knowing that he'd never be able to play tennis again?
"He won't..be able to play tennis again..," Tezuka whispered aloud.
Yuuta's eyes met Tezuka's when those words met his ears.
"I know..," Yuuta sighed. "Yumiko, what happened? ..I mean, when did he get shot? Where?"
Yumiko rolled over on the blanket and sat up. "I-I'm not sure exactly.. When I got home, I looked all through the house but I couldn't find Syusuke. At first I thought maybe he'd went out somewhere, but when he didn't come home after an hour...I began to worry. I searched all over for him, so when I didn't find him, I went over to the neighbors to ask if maybe they'd seen him... And..there he was..lying on the floor..blood everywhere..." Yumiko stopped when she began to weep again.
Yuuta swallowed hard and nodded. Then, a question struck him. "Wait a minute..why was he in our neighbor's house in the first place?"
Yumiko shook her head. "I don't know, but..when I called the police..they think maybe he may have heard or saw when our neighbor got shot, so he went to investigate. The murderer was still there..and so he shot Syusuke."
"Murderer?" Yuuta gasped when a sudden realization hit him. Someone had meant to kill his older brother..not just make him blind. This wasn't an accident.
'It's just so unbelievable..someone had meant to kill Syusuke..,' Yuuta thought, dumbstruck.
"Do they know who the murderer was?" Tezuka asked, interrupting Yuuta's thoughts. Once more, Yumiko shook her head.
"They will have to question him on what he knows when he wakes up..."
A/N: So, chapter 2 is done! I hoped everyone liked it. Please, please, review! I'm not sure if this chapter is that good...please tell me!