Words: 2,163

Disclaimer: Not mine. Won't ever be mine. –sniffle-

Author's Note: Thanks FallingSilver and all the reviewers. There is angst in this chapter. Just a warning. Prepare for angst.

Atobe's Little Plan

Chapter 6

Oishi was late. The party was already in full swing. The lights were dimmed, and the band was playing soft music. After he had tracked Atobe down, he had asked for the plans for the mansion, which he readily gave. Atobe's smile was too unnerving for Oishi's peace of mind, though, so he left rather quickly after that. He had to go copy the plans and then distribute the copies around the rooms. Since all the others were already down at the party, he had to slip the pieces of paper under the doors.

He watched all the people from the sidelines, content to just look. He didn't know what Fuji was thinking when he made his outfit. The outfit looked like a military outfit from the Nutcracker, complete with yellow sash running from left shoulder to right waist. The red shirt was a nice contrast to his navy blue dress pants. The white gloves and black shoes made the outfit look very nice. He wore a golden crown on top of his head. He was almost too afraid to ask if it was real gold. His mask was a simple black mask.

He was getting a bit bored, when he saw something he never thought he would see. Tezuka was dancing with a girl! He had to pick his jaw up from the ground. They were quickly lost in the crowd of dancing people, but they were within sight too long for it to have been his imagination. Well, wonders never cease.

"What are you looking at?" A shy voice broke through his thoughts.

He turned to the right and felt an invisible punch to his stomach. There was a girl talking to him. A beautiful girl. She looked as if she had flames on top of her head, controlled flames judging from the amount of purple clips in her hair. She had on a light purple tiara on top of her head with a light purple sparkling mask. The dress fit her upper figure and then spread out in a pool down to her knees. The pieces of the bottom part of her dress were cut like leaves. The top part was solid purple and the bottom part was sheer purple with sparkles in it. The bottom had ribbons flowing down that moved with her but didn't touch the floor. She had on some soft purple ballet shoes and some purple fairy wings to complete the outfit.

"I, I just saw someone, that's all," he stammered.

She smiled and moved closer to him. "Oh? Someone you like?"

Well, she was direct. "No, no one of real importance." She was making him tongue-tied.

She laughed. Her laugh was light and happy. "You are so cute when you blush, you know." He looked at the floor, hoping to hide his growing blush. "What do you say we dance?"

He looked up, giving her a smile. "Sure."

They joined the throng of dancers, happily oblivious to anyone but themselves. People are lucky they don't bump into each other, with how no one is paying attention to anyone else, he thought. They danced the night away, time going by faster then Oishi would have thought in the beginning. Thanks to the comfortable shoes, Oishi danced for hours until they were too tired to even think about dancing.

Laughing, they threw open the doors to go outside, thankful for the cool night air rushing into the packed room. Several people gave them relieved glances.

They ran out to the terrace, laughing all the way. Oishi was surprised with how comfortable he felt with this girl. She made him want to tell her all of his deep dark secrets. He thought only Eiji could make him feel like that.

The sky seemed endless with no clouds up there to hamper the stars and the moon. So clear, so beautiful.

When they calmed down from their run, Oishi spoke up. "Are you on a tennis team?"

She smiled, thoughtfully. "Yes, and I love it. I'm actually very mischievous on my team. They make me happy to be alive."

He smiled in return. "That sounds like someone on my tennis team. He is happy and outgoing and never knows when to stop. He never gives up on people or his games."

"Hmm, it sounds as if you respect him a lot."

"I do," he said seriously. "He is everything I wish I could be. Sometimes, I even wish I could be the one who makes him smile. Everyone on the team loves him, and I don't know what we'd do without his cheerfulness."

He thought he heard her breath catch. "He sounds wonderful. Why is he so important to the team? Was there something that happened?"

He smiled ruefully. "Yes. Someone else on our team that was very special left. It devastated the team. Another person who could always be counted on to cheer people up wasn't cheerful anymore." He smiled at her confused look. "This other guy fell in love with the special guy who went away. After he left, he couldn't bear to live anymore. I think that my friend was one of the ones that helped bring him out of his depression."

"Sounds like an amazing guy," she said, breathlessly.

"Yeah." He stared off into the distance, forgetting about the girl beside him.

"You," she started, sounding very hesitant, "You seem like you, you know, love him." She blushed prettily.

"You know, like love him, love him. More then a friend love him," she rushed on.

She said more, but Oishi's brain had shut down when she said 'love him'. Was it so obvious? If it was, then why didn't Eiji see it? His hands tightened on the railing. He couldn't keep running away from what he felt. It was true that what he felt for his beautiful doubles partner was wrong, but he really didn't care. He'd never felt this way with anyone before. Eiji was the only person that inhabited his mind, body and soul. Eiji was on Oishi's mind when he first woke up and was the last thing on his mind when he went to sleep. It really was no use denying it any longer.

"Yes. Yes, I love him with all my being." He interrupted the girl with determination in his voice.

He looked at the girl and she seemed stunned, but that quickly passed as she gave him a brilliant smile. "You do, nya!" She jumped in the air in her excitement.

His brain shut down for the second time that night. Did he just hear what he thought he heard? Did this girl say 'nya'? That was Eiji's saying. What was going on?

The girl stopped and gave Oishi a stricken look as if she'd just played back what she had said. A look of horror crossed her face. She blanched and turned and ran away. Oishi snapped out of it and took off after her, him, whatever. While Oishi was running, he ruffled his hair in confusion.

He was fast. Oishi would give him that much, but if anyone knew his doubles partner the best, it was him. Eiji would run out of stamina soon. All he had to do was keep after him and not lose sight of him. They ran through the gardens, heedless of the multitudes of people who seemed to watch them as they ran by. They ran into the forest. Eiji kept looking behind him; once he had seen Oishi, he'd started running faster.

"Eiji! Wait!" Oishi called out to his panicked ridden partner.

He wasn't giving up this early. Finding an extra burst of energy, Oishi ran faster then he ever had in his life. Inch by inch he was catching up with Eiji. He couldn't afford to have doubts enter in his mind, but he found them anyway. It could be that Eiji heard Oishi's confession and was so horrified that he had to run away. Or maybe he couldn't believe what Oishi had said and took off. Oishi mentally threw all of that garbage away. He had to focus on running. If he didn't run faster then this, he'd never catch Eiji.

Oishi felt it, the one more burst of speed that could catch Eiji. He waited though. Maybe Eiji would slow down on his own. Even now he couldn't hurt Eiji, even if it was to catch him. He risked taking his eyes off of Eiji to look ahead of him. He nearly fell down. Right in front of Eiji was a cliff, and he was headed right for it. Oishi took that burst of speed, not caring that it was more then he had originally thought. If it would save Eiji, nothing else mattered. He felt like he was flying. He was catching up with leaps and bounds, but would it be enough to catch Eiji?

Close enough to feel the tips of Eiji's finger tips, Oishi jumped him. He grabbed him around the waist, saving him from most of the scrapes the slide was giving him. He saw the edge of the cliff screaming up to him. He had run out of time and sliding space, and one of them wouldn't make it. With the last of his strength, Oishi threw Eiji the opposite direction then the way he was sliding. Eiji would live.

"NOOOO!" Eiji screamed, unable to stop what Oishi was doing.

The last thing Oishi saw was that beautiful face screaming at him, as Eiji cried and tried to reach out to him. Then he fell. The feeling of nothing beneath him or around him was alarming, but he calmed himself down. He felt himself bounce off the side of the cliff. He felt the side of his stomach and came away with blood. He was now facing down, and he could see that the cliff ended in a slope. If he could somehow angle himself so that he caught the top of that slope, he just might be able to break his fall and save himself. Everything was now going in slow motion for Oishi, his brain working faster then it ever has before. He angled himself and was surprised when he felt the top of the slope. He wrapped his arms around his head. That was the most important thing. He felt every rock, bump and bruise, but if he lived, nothing else mattered.

It seemed ages when he finally came to a stop. He tentatively cracked an eye open to find that he'd landed on his back. He felt sore all over. He slowly got to his feet, thankful that his legs weren't broken. He felt all over his body and gave a sigh of relief. He had no broken bones. The only injury that was semi-serious was the slash at his side. He patched it as well as he could, worried when the pieces of cloth were soaked within minutes, then he started up the path that he found to find Eiji.

It took him half an hour to laboriously climb up the slope. Several times he stumbled, but he picked himself up and kept going. The worry that Eiji might have been seriously injured kept him going.

When he got to the top he found Eiji frantically searching the edge of the cliff. He stepped on a twig, alerting Eiji that someone was there. When he saw Oishi, he screamed.

"Oishi," he started. "I, I thought you might have grabbed the edge. I was going to help you up. I was…" Then he started crying uncontrollably.

Oishi moved, walking semi-straight toward Eiji. He felt it, as the strength that he kept calling on when climbing up the cliff's path failed. He fell again, but this time found himself in Eiji's arms.

"Oishi! Why didn't you tell me you were injured? Baka me. I should have known. A person can't fall down a cliff and survive without a scratch." Eiji lifted Oishi in his arms, being extra careful with the wound in his side. "I'll take you back to the mansion and see that you get the best help."

Oishi covered Eiji's mouth with his hand, dismayed to see blood all over his hand. "Eiji, are you ok? I hope I didn't hurt you when I threw you." Even his voice sounded weak.

Eiji gurgled a laugh, tears dripping onto Oishi. "Even now, you only worry about me. Never for yourself. I'm fine, Oishi. I'm fine. You just rest and preserve your strength."

"No! I want you to know that I love you with all my heart. I just hope that in time you can come to feel that way for me as well." He wished he could make his voice louder.

Eiji was now bawling. "Oishi, you won't have to wait for time because I love you as well. Just sleep, and I will tell you just how much I love you when you wake up. Okay?"

"Okay," he whispered. He closed his eyes, now admitting that he needed some sleep. When he woke up, maybe he wouldn't wake up alone anymore.

Wufei: Onna! How could you have left this way? You're crazy.

Anifantwist: Um, Wufei? What are you doing here? This isn't even a GW fic.

Wufei: …

(Wufei exits stage lefts muttering to himself about baka onna's.)

Eiji: NYA! He's right even if I don't know him. Why'd you leave it with my Oishi near death? How could you, nya?

Anifantwist: --;; I swear this isn't a death fic so your precious Oishi will be fine… I hope. Now go away and let me work.