Disclaimer: I don't own PoT. If I did there would be even more blatant yaoi.

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"I guess I just don't have the right words too do justice to my friend's memory… I was never the emotional rock that he was for everyone. I was the captain and he was my vice-captain. But really that team was more of a family. I was kind of the tough love father and Oishi was like the mother, I suppose, in fact he was called the mother of the Seigaku Tennis team," smiled Tezuka. "And everyone else on the team were his children, not ours, his. Whenever there was a problem they wouldn't come running to me, they'd go straight to Oishi, if someone was hurt or upset it was Oishi who would now, and would come running just to make them smile. He was always looking over everyone else. He really was one of the most amazing guys I've ever met, I feel very privileged to have known him."

"One instance sticks out in my mind as extremely Oishi-ish." Tezuka gave a small smile. "I remember it like it was just yesterday, Momoshiro and Kaidoh were fighting-"

"That was just yesterday," interrupted Fuji. That caused a few more chuckles, it seemed that everyone was loosening up.

"Well, anyways, they were fighting, I don't even remember what they were fighting about, and no one probably knew in the first place, it's possible that they were fighting just for the sake of fighting. So Oishi found out about it. It was during the school day, and they were fighting in the hallway just outside my classroom. I still don't know how Oishi knew they were fighting. It was probably some sixth sense he developed. He came stomping down the hall from his home ec class dressed in a bright pink apron, wielding a spatula, looking actually rather dangerous," said Tezuka with a small smile at the memory.

"So he gets right in Momoshiro and Kaidoh's faces and just gives them that look of his, you know the one, the what-do-you-think-you're-doing-stop-fighting-now look… He actually made them apologize to each other, the only instance I can remember to this date of either of them apologizing to the other. Then he made them hug before sitting in separate corners of the hall for a full five minutes to think about what they'd done before he released them back to class," laughed Tezuka. Everyone was laughing with him some in loud guffaws agreeing that it was indeed something Oishi would do, some chuckling, and some hysterical laugher, the later most mostly from Eiji. Tezuka went on, talking about Oishi. However Eiji's thoughts drifted off to that doom bringing phone call from his mother.

"Eiji? Honey… I need you to sit down."

"What's wrong mom? What happened? Are you okay?" asked Eiji.

"… Eiji, baby… please sit down…" Eiji hesitantly did as he was told, he had just left the college grounds and there was a bench just past it. He sat down on the edge and focused all his attention on the phone.

"Is everyone okay?"

"… There's been an accident…"

"An accident?"

"… Oishi's dead…" Those words sent a chill down his spine. His grasp around the phone loosened and he dropped his arm and just stared at the phone. There was no way this could be true. Of course, it was April first after all.

"Nya! Mom! That was a good one, I believed you for a minute there," smiled Eiji. "So what did you really want, and make it kinda quick, I'm supposed to be meeting up with Oishi right now," smiled Eiji.

"…Eiji…" said his mom tears evident in her voice. "Baby… this isn't a joke… Oishi's really dead…" at that point Eiji really did drop his phone, it fell to the ground with a loud clatter. He couldn't do anything but stare at it. Dead? There was no way Oishi was dead.

"Eiji honey! Pick up the phone." Eiji stared down at the phone talking to him from the pavement, since when could phones talk? "Honey! Are you still there? Don't do anything stupid… I'm gonna come pick you up… so, so… just go back to room for now… I'll pick you up from your room" said Mrs. Kikumaru.

Eiji gave the phone one last confused look. He stood, picked up his tennis bag and ran off in the direction he'd originally been heading. It was all one big sick joke, it just had to be. He'd get to the courts and Oishi would be there warming up. Smiling and asking him what took so long.

Breathless he arrived at the courts. He surveyed the area. Oishi wasn't there…

Yet!

Oishi wasn't there YET! He was going to be there. He was. Eiji sat down on a bench on the side of the court. He'd just wait for Oishi to show up and then they could warm up together. Hours passed, many people showed up, a few asked if he wanted to play but he told them he was waiting for someone. It steadily began to get dark. The sun finally set and the stars came. Eiji stood up and wandered over to where the controls for the lights were. He turned them on. Oishi wouldn't be able to find him in the dark. He walked back to the bench and pulled out his racket and took his position by the net. He looked back over his shoulder. Still no Oishi. After ten minutes of crouching down in position Eiji finally sat down on the court holding his racket like a security blanket. Where was Oishi? Why was he so late?

Because he's dead. Came the pestering little voice in his mind. It wasn't true. It couldn't be true. Oishi wasn't dead… was he?

He didn't remember falling asleep. He woke to a policeman standing over him with a worried look on his face.

"Kid? How long have you been here?" asked the officer. Eiji sat up and looked around. Then he remembered what happened. He was at the courts waiting for Oishi. He clutched his racket closer to his chest. Oishi still wasn't there. Eiji turned to look at the officer.

"He's not dead... Oishi's not dead? Right?" he asked the officer pleadingly.

"What's your name kid?" asked the Officer not answering Eiji's hysterical questions.

"Kikumaru Eiji… I'm looking for Oishi Shuichiro? Have you seen him?" asked Eiji. The officer stood.

"No. I haven't seen him… Do you think you can stand?" asked the officer offering a hand to Eiji. Eiji took one hand off his racket and placed it in the officer's grasp. He found himself pulled up off the ground, only to have his legs collapse underneath him. He looked up sheepishly at the officer.

"I guess I can't…" The officer gave Eiji a sad smile and gently picked the young man up bridal style.

"Do you live around here?" asked the officer as he began to leave the courts.

"Wait! I've gotta wait for Oishi! He promised to meet me here!" said Eiji.

"Kid, it's six in the morning… he's not coming," said the Officer pityingly.

"He is!" said Eiji forcefully. "Mom was lying! He's not dead! He'll be here!"

"Is that your bag?" asked the officer nodding to Eiji's tennis bag on the bench. Eiji nodded slowly. The officer walked over and placed Eiji down on the bench and hefted the bag over his shoulder, observing, luckily, that the bag had a phone number on it, because he didn't seem to be getting anywhere questioning the young man.

"Wait! Where are you taking my bag!" asked Eiji hysterically.

"I'm taking you to Headquarters-"

"I haven't broken any laws! I'm just waiting for my friend!"

"We're just gonna call your parents,"

"But I left my phone on the sidewalk… Mom was lying… so I left the phone… but she wasn't lying was she… Oishi's really dead. He didn't meet me," said Eiji slowly dissolving into tears. Deciding that this was as good a time as any, the officer scooped Eiji back up into his arms. This time Eiji didn't protest, he just kept silently crying and clutching his racket to his chest as if it was the only thing he had left.

The journey to Headquarters took no time at all. Eiji was now sitting in the officer's chair wrapped in a large fluffy blanket clutching his racket. He was pale and his eyes were red and puffy from crying. He was looking at everything but seeing nothing at all. All the female officers were cooing over the poor young man. Asking him inane questions like was he okay? Did he want anything else? It was obvious, at least to the officer that brought him back, that the only think Eiji wanted to was to hear was that his friend wasn't dead and that his mother was lying. The Officer had immediately called the number on the kid's bag to be greeted with and equally hysterical woman asking him if he was Eiji. The officer quickly told the woman that Eiji was not injured or in trouble just that he had found the boy sleeping on the tennis courts in the park. Before informing her that her boy was now sitting in Headquarters and that she should come pick him up.

About ten minutes later the woman came crashing into headquarters followed by a man who he could only assume was her husband and about six more children, all older than the boy he had found.

"Eiji!" she cried spotting her son. Eiji turned to look at her.

"M-mom?" he asked, it was the first thing he had said since the courts. "… You were lying? Right?… Please say you were lying!" he asked, his eyes gaining emotion back. The woman let out a loud sob and hugged her son.

"Eiji baby… don't ever scare mommy like that again… I was worried you'd gone and killed yourself…" sobbed the woman.

"But-"

"OISHI IS DEAD!" came the forceful yell as she pulled away from her son angrily. "He's not coming to meet you for tennis," she said grasping his face in her hand so the young man couldn't look away. "He's dead. You have to accept that." Said the woman.

"NO!" yelled Eiji just as vehemently. "OISHI'S NOT DEAD! YOU'RE LYING!" the woman then smacked the young man across the face. She had tears in her eyes as Eiji looked up at her shocked. Disentangling one hand from his racket to place it against his now bright red cheek. Ironically enough it was the same place Oishi had hit him in their one and only serious fight. The woman pulled him to her chest again. Eiji looked over his shoulder and saw the rest of his family for the first time.

"D-dad?" he croaked as if asking if it was real. The man handed him a newspaper, specifically an article about a young college student being the victim of a hit and run by a drunk driver a couple of nights ago.

"Eiji," began the man softly. "Oishi's been dead for four days."

"It can't be true… Oishi's not dead…"

"He is son… He is, and no amount of questioning the truth is going to bring him back."