A/N: The long awaited appearance of other characters! I've officially broken the 10,000 word mark. This chapter's even a bit longer than the last. Yay!

Inspiration: Fueled by spicy beef ramen noodles, X Japan, T.M. Revolution, Siam Shade, and hide.

Shattered Reality
Chapter Seven
by Wolfram003

Where had everyone been yesterday? The Seigaku tennis club had been missing nearly half of its regulars during afternoon practice, and Tezuka-buchou had been irritated to say the least. He had had Inui drill everyone—complete with the threat of the latest Inui juice—to the point of collapsing from exhaustion. Momoshiro Takeshi knew for a fact that Oishi-senpai and Fuji-senpai had been at morning practice yesterday, so why hadn't they been there that afternoon to share the team's suffering?

Echizen and Kikumaru-senpai had been gone too. It was unusual for the redhead to be gone; he was rarely sick, after all. Echizen probably hadn't even come to school; in fact—Momo fondly rolled his violet eyes heavenward—he had probably slept at home all day.

So, it was his duty as Echizen's senpai to bring him his work that he had missed—he had even gone and specifically asked the teacher for it! He would have taken it to the younger boy yesterday, but he had been too tired to do so. Inui-senpai was cruel, so cruel! However, now he was rested and rejuvenated—it was nearly four o'clock in the afternoon—, so he would fulfill his duty on this lovely Sunday instead.

At least, Momo reluctantly admitted to himself, that was his excuse for coming to see Echizen this time. He gently pressed down on the handle brakes and let his bike slow to a stop. He really just wanted to see the snarky(1) boy.

He hopped off his bicycle, walked it just inside the gate, and leaned it against the fence before walking up to the door to the first-year's house. He knocked lightly and heard lightly padded footsteps before Echizen's cousin slid the door open. He held up his hand in greeting, smiling, "Hi, Nanako-san."

"Oh! Hello, Momoshiro-san. Please come in. Ryoma-san is up in his room."

"Ah, thanks," Momo said as he stepped inside and toed off his shoes. Nanako nodded and left to finish what she had been working on. The violet-eyed tennis player padded up the stairs quickly and slid open his friend's door, "Oi, Echizen!"

His loud arrival was quickly met by one disapproving stare, one somewhat strained smile, and one downright glare from over a game of cards.

"Hush, Momo. Echizen's sleeping," Oishi scolded.

"Yes, please be quiet. We wouldn't want to interrupt someone's nap, now would we, Momo?" Fuji's strained smile took on a deadly edge, and Momo turned to look at the last—snoring, Momo added mentally—occupant of the room in disbelief.

Echizen really was asleep at four o'clock in the afternoon! Momo turned back to the group of older boys and frowned as he noticed the bruise on his glaring, red-haired senpai's cheek. He promptly walked closer to the group and sat down, gesturing at the cards, "Can I play?"

Fuji and Oishi said he could while Eiji muttered something to the effect of, "Only if you don't wake up Ochibi." Momo chose to ignore the comment; he was sure Kikumaru-senpai had a reason for being so disgruntled. That bruise on his cheek was highly suspicious.

About halfway through the newest hand of cards, Momo asked, "So where was everyone yesterday? Tezuka-buchou made Inui-senpai work us nearly to death. It was not cool, not cool at all."

"H-hoi, I'm going to lay down for a bit. I'm not feeling so well, nya," Eiji announced suddenly and let his cards fall to the ground as he stood up and walked over to Echizen's bed. The redhead climbed into it and promptly pulled the blankets over his head.

Oishi watched him with an expression of worry as Fuji opened his eyes and glared at Momo. The violet-eyed boy sweated nervously as he met his senpai's icy eyes, "Did I say something wrong?"

"Nya, I'm just not feeling well, Momo-chan," Eiji's muffled voice explained.

Fuji, however, nodded slightly, still watching him with that unnerving cerulean stare. Oishi took the awkward silence that followed to try to diffuse the situation. He grabbed both Momo and Fuji by the wrists and dragged them from the room, sliding the door closed as he went.

Momo finally couldn't hold his curiosity in anymore and asked, "What happened to Kikumaru-senpai?"

Oishi and Fuji shared a look before Oishi sighed somewhat angrily, "Someone hit him."

"So he got into a fight? That's not good, not good at all," Momo muttered under his breath, rubbing his chin and attempting to ignore Fuji's continuous stare. Then Fuji spoke up, and Momo found himself meeting the tensai's gaze after all.

"No, it's not good at all. From what Echizen managed to get out of him before we even knew of the situation, Eiji was trying to break up a fight between his family members, and he was hit. Twice."

Violet eyes widened with shock as Oishi continued what Fuji had been telling him.

"He ran away, Momo. Echizen found him yesterday morning crying in an alley which, as much as I hate to admit it, was a really stupid place to stay overnight. Who knows what could have happened to him!" Oishi put a hand to his forehead, and Fuji continued after placing a comforting hand on the vice-captain's shoulder.

"Eiji had a fever when Echizen found him, so Echizen sent Oishi a text message and stayed with Eiji until he got it. Apparently his phone didn't have much of a charge. Echizen knows to charge his phone now," Fuji added dryly, blue eyes glinting.

Momo gave a hesitant laugh, unsure of whether Fuji's statement was meant to be a joke or not. Either way he pitied Ryoma; the poor boy had to have been threatened the whole time he was with Fuji, subtly or not.

"So Ochibi," a new voice snickered, "and Fuji-kun walked all the way over here to ask me to go pick up Oishi-kun and Kikumaru-kun. Didn't you say that Oishi-kun had a cell phone earlier? You could have just called on that."

Nanjirou Echizen eyed Fuji for a long moment before suddenly clutching his magazine to his chest dramatically, "At least that's what they should have done. That boy of mine decided I wouldn't do anything unless he blackmailed me! He stole my magazine and let his cat play with it!"

Momo's eyes finally took noticed of the claw marks and ripped paper of the magazine. He fought back a snicker. He had the feeling that Fuji-senpai was waiting for the perfect opportunity to blackmail him, and Momo didn't want to try his luck. This really wasn't a laughing matter, no matter how amusing Echizen's dad could be.

The oldest Echizen's demeanor suddenly turned serious, and he frowned, "Then the kid passed out on the car ride. He scared everyone, though I'm fairly certain he doesn't remember much of that incident. Kikumaru-kun's fever has just gone down enough so that he's somewhat lucid. He was a bit out-of-sorts for a while, nearly a day if you want to nitpick, but he seems to be doing better now. I'm letting him stay here until he's ready to go home, though I don't know when that will be. He seems really shaken up by what happened."

Momo frowned slightly, "Isn't the Kikumaru family really close-knit? What were they fighting over? Does anyone know?"

The door to Ryoma's room slid open at that moment to reveal the owner of the room. He looked at each one of them blandly as he slid the wooden panel closed behind him. Yawning, he said, "If I can hear you, Kikumaru-senpai definitely can."

Then he went back into his room where he could be heard flopping back onto the spare futon he had been laying on. The four stood in stunned silence. Had they really been loud enough to wake Ryoma Echizen from his dead sleep?

Apparently they had.

Fuji and Oishi shared a look before ushering Nanjirou and Momo down the stairs, through the main room, and into the kitchen. They sat at the table in silence for a moment before Oishi spoke up, "Eiji's oldest sister made an announcement over dinner that didn't go over too well with their father. Eiji had wanted to tell his family something similar—"

"You mean he wanted to tell them that he liked another guy, right? I'm surprised there was someone who didn't know." Momo stated with a raised eyebrow. His purple eyes widened in disbelief at the startled expressions on the older men's faces. He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, "I mean—did you guys seriously not know that? Inui-senpai's been going on about that for a while now..."

Oishi blushed and muttered a hushed, "I know," that was overlooked by the rest of the table.

Fuji seemed frozen for a moment before he pushed back his chair from the table and stood, righteous fury burning in his open blue eyes, "They fought over that! How could they do that to Eiji! I know his sisters and his mom know about that! How could his sister and dad—"

Something seemed to click in everyone's thoughts at the same time. Fuji flopped back into his chair and ran a hand through his hair, sighing in frustration, and Oishi's hands fisted in anger. Nanjirou and Momo's attitudes were unusually subdued as they watched the reactions of the two people across the table from them.

"Echizen told me that Eiji said he 'got caught in the middle' when 'they' were fighting over 'such a stupid thing.' So he was hit when he tried to break up the fight between his sister and father?" Fuji asked quietly.

Momo chose that time to ask, "But if he was in the middle of the fight, why does he only have one bruise?"

"If he was in the middle and he has a bruise on his face, then there must be one somewhere on his back," Nanjirou rubbed his chin in thought.

"That must have been what he reacted to in the car," Oishi bit his lip as he explained, emerald eyes clouded with worry. "He coughed fairly hard, so I rubbed his back to see if it would help him. I must have touched his injury because he gasped."

"He must have a terrible bruise; he doesn't usually react to them like that," Fuji added pensively. "This one must be particularly bad because I know for a fact that he's usually covered in scrapes and bruises from the stunts he pulls during tennis practice. He never complains about those, but I distinctly remember him whimpering in the car."

Fuji stood from his chair again. "I'm going to his house to get the whole story from someone. I want to know what happened. Don't let him know where I went." He gave a slight, genuine smile to Nanjirou, "Thank you for letting Eiji stay here, Echizen-san. I'll be back soon."

The brown-haired man blinked and said it was no problem at all. He also added that they were all welcome to stay until the situation blew over, but they would still have to go to school and let their parents know where they were. Fuji nodded and thanked him again before leaving, pausing only long enough to slip on his tennis shoes.

Oishi left the room and headed upstairs shortly after the tensai's departure to try to cheer up the other half of the Golden Pair. The absence of Eiji's smile was very noticeable.

Momo gave a low whistle and shared a glance of awe with Ryoma's father, "Fuji-senpai's pissed."

To be continued...

Notes:
(1) snarky: There is no better word, in my honest opinion, to describe Ryoma Echizen.

Glossary of Terms:
-buchou— "captain".
-senpai— upperclassman.
-san/-kun— formalities; terms of respect.
Ochibi— roughly translates to "Kiddo" or "Baby."
Hoi/Nya— Nonsensical term used by Eiji, similar to a noise made by a cat.
-chan— term of endearment.
tensai—roughly "genius" or "prodigy."

--Wolfram003--