Disclaimer: I don't own PoT

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Eiji ran he didn't know where he was headed; he just needed to get away. If he could run away from the truth that would make it all better. Finally breathless he found himself at a very familiar place. He looked up it was sunset and he was standing right in front of that stupid dumpster. He closed his eyes and he could see Oishi and him hitting balls back and forth against the dumpster. He could see them sitting on the top, talking about everything and nothing.

"Oishi you jerk…" he mumbled sadly. He punched the dumpster. Before he leaned against it and slowly slid to the ground crying. What was he supposed to do now? It was Oishi's job to come and find him when he was like this. Oishi was supposed to show up and make everything better just like every other time. But this time he couldn't.

That was another thing that had been bugging him. Oishi always knew when Eiji was sad or in trouble. He even knew when Eiji sneezed. So why? Why hadn't he known Oishi was in danger? In all the movies lovers knew when their partner was in trouble and came rushing in on a white horse. So why hadn't he known. According to the paper Oishi had been killed at 9:30 pm three days after they had last studied at Oishi's dorm. Eiji knew exactly what he'd been doing at that moment. He'd been playing video games with his roommate. He hadn't felt a thing.

What was wrong with him? Had he not loved Oishi enough? Was Oishi just too good for him? Had Oishi been killed to protect him from Eiji? If that was the case shouldn't it have been Eiji himself who died? It didn't make sense. Nothing added up.

He hoped Oishi, as a ghost, hadn't been watching his own funeral. Oishi would have been mad at him for telling all his secrets, telling about the time they'd been arrested. Oishi would have been hurt hearing Eiji call him a jerk. He really hoped Oishi wasn't a ghost! Being a ghost meant you had unfinished business. He didn't want Oishi to have unfinished business no matter how badly he wished he could see him again.

After a few hours later he felt cold, a cold that matched the numb he'd been feeling since his mother had called.

"Mom'll be mad if she has to pick me up from the police head quarters again," mumbled Eiji standing. He looked over the city all those twinkling lights.

"… it's pretty isn't it?" he remarked, before realizing that Oishi wasn't there. He gave a wry smile at where Oishi would have been.

"Yeah, I know, you're not there… Don't worry I won't make anyone worry over me anymore," sighed Eiji before heading back to his house.

Unfortunately that's not where his feet took him. He stopped for the second time today and found himself looking up at a familiar sight. It was dark out but it was obvious the wake was still going on in the Oishi household. He gave a sad smile as he looked up to see Oishi's room was the only one in the house without a light on. He didn't really want to talk to anyone right now. He gave a small smile, and with practiced ease shimmed up the drainpipe to Oishi's partly opened bedroom window.

Everything looked absolutely the same. Oishi's bed was made perfectly as usual. His fish watched Eiji their mouths opening and closing hungrily at him. Without thinking he reached into Oishi's desk drawer and pulled the fish food out and gave the fishes a couple pinches of it before returning it. The eagerly ate of the food, and ignored Eiji as he made fish faces back at them from Oishi's bed.

Oishi's desk was neat an organized, his books all in alphabetical order. The clothes in his closet were color-coded, shoes all in a perfect line. Eiji gave a smile, sometimes Oishi could be a little too organized.

He jumped at the sound of the door opening. It was Oishi's little sister.

"Eiji-niisan? What are you doing up here?" she asked him. He gave her a smile.

"… I was just feeding the fish…." He said lamely after searching around the room for a while. Why had he come up here?

"Oh… that's why I came up here too. I decided that mom and dad would probably forget of Shuichiro's fish, and I didn't want them to get hungry." She said. Eiji smiled at her and sat back down on Oishi's bed.

"Everyone's worried about you. You should come down and say hi," she said grabbing Eiji's hand and dragging him downstairs.

"Mommy! I found Eiji-niisan!" she said happily. Most activity in the room stopped.

"Where was he?" asked Mrs. Oishi smiling and playing along with her daughter.

"He was feeding Shuichiro's fishes!" she said happily. Mrs. Oishi smiled sadly at Eiji and held out her arms. Eiji met her eyes, and understood everything as easily as if it had been Oishi himself. He quickly collapsed into her arms. She understood everything that was going on, she was going to make it better.

"It's okay Eiji," she said petting head, just like Oishi always did. His arrival had apparently created a little bit of a scene. The Kikumarus were relieved that their son actually returned tonight, they were never sure if he was actually going to come home every night. "Everything's going to be okay." Eiji couldn't help it anymore; he began to cry silently into Mrs. Oishi's shoulder.

The Seigaku regulars breathed a sigh of relieve, Eiji hadn't done anything stupid. A new side of Eiji seemed to come to light because of Oishi's death.

Tezuka seeing the distraction quickly stole the note for Fuji's grasp. Most had been opposed to opening the note, and luckily they had won, it's contents was still secret.

"Kikumaru." Said Tezuka walking over to the pair as activity went back to normal in the room. Eiji looked up.

"T-tezuka-buchou?" asked Eiji confused. He held out the note for Eiji.

"Eiji honey," said Mrs. Oishi pulling away from Eiji for a moment so she could look him in the eyes. "Shuichiro left you a note."

"Wh-"

"No. He wrote it before…" she trailed off, and then decided that Eiji needed to hear the truth rather than be babied. "He… he was going to see you."

"M-me?" croaked Eiji looking from the note back to Mrs. Oishi.

"Then… its my fault-"

"NO!" said Mrs. Oishi forcefully. "No, it's not your fault. It was just… bad luck," said Mrs. Oishi choosing her words carefully.

"Take the note Kikumaru." Said Tezuka stonily.

"…Did you read it?"

"Of course not." Said Tezuka angry to have his honor insulted. "It's addressed to you," he said somewhat kinder. He'd been thinking about it. It did make sense, to know that his closest friend had been in love with his doubles partner. He really should have seen it a while ago. He had a feeling that a confession of some sort was in the letter. Oishi wasn't the type of person to go running around the city at night, well after hearing Eiji's speech, maybe Oishi was the type of person, but he wouldn't have gone without Eiji.

Eiji hesitantly reached a hand out to take the note. He sat back down on the couch.

"I'll just leave you alone for a little while," said Mrs. Oishi standing and giving Eiji an affectionate pat on the head before returning to her rounds and taking her daughter with her. Tezuka too gave Eiji his space for the moment. Although he joined the group of regulars, and then stood nearby, they were all dying to know what was in the letter.