A/N: This chapter is a little... slow. It's also fairly short and doesn't make much sense as its setting up future plot development. I was working through a huge case of writer's block and having family problems of my own. Sorry if someone's out of character. Also, I've been told that I've made Fuji twice as scary than he actually is in the series. I apologize for doing so. I just write the characters how I perceive them, so I'm sorry if my opinions are different than someone else's. That's all I have to say this time.

A note that has nothing to do with this story: I made myself a new LJ avatar. It's Shinji and Kamio! I'm very proud of it. It turned out a lot better than I thought it would. Also, I have decided that the song "JUICE" from Inui's "Emc2" album is hilarious. Poor Kaidoh.

Shattered Reality
Chapter Nine
by Wolfram003

Eiji was not happy. He was trying to make this known to everyone in his general vicinity—especially his best friend—by brooding. He not pleased with Fuji, not at all.

He continued to glare (read: pout) at the back of the tensai's head accusingly, as he had been doing for the past hour. Fuji had lied to him. The honey-haired boy had told Eiji that he had run into Hiroshi when he had gone out for a walk, and the redhead's brother had given him a bag of stuff to bring to him.

However, there were a few problems with what Fuji had told him. First off, Ochibi didn't live anywhere near him, so Fuji would have had to walk a long way out of the way to even be anywhere near his house! Second, why would Hiroshi be carrying around a bag to give to him when his brother didn't even know where he was? Third... Well, Eiji hadn't really noticed anything else, but he blamed that on the constant fever-hazed state of his mind.

The redhead fought the urge to throw something at the back of his smiling friend's head since the honey-haired boy wasn't even paying attention to his attempts to get his irritation across. There had been reasons he hadn't told anyone what happened! He knew how protective Fuji was, and he didn't want anyone to fight! Fighting over something stupid was what caused this whole mess in the first place!

So, as Ochibi and Fuji—Eiji had been genuinely surprised when his best friend had brought Inui and Kaidoh back with him earlier—sat across from each other playing a game of cards, the irritated acrobat of the Seigaku tennis club sat on Ryoma's bed sorting through the stuff Hiroshi had sent him, still occasionally trying to get Fuji to notice him. He sighed and wondered when Oishi would be back. Echizen-san had volunteered to drive everyone who needed things to stay overnight—this group consisted of Oishi, Kaidoh, Momo, and Inui—to their houses since he had to go shopping so everyone could have dinner anyway.

They hadn't been gone that long, and it would be a while before they came back.

Eiji became bored with the task of looking through his bag. Surprisingly, there wasn't much in there, just a few shirts, a few pairs of pants, his school uniform, his toothbrush and toothpaste, and a hairbrush. He honestly had no idea why the bag was so heavy.

Pushing aside the pack, he turned his attention to his friends again. As he slid to the floor to join the others, he decided that he could forgive the blue-eyed tensai. Fuji was just looking out for him, after all.

He felt something soft brush up against his legs and looked down to see Ryoma's cat, Karupin, purring and watching him with clear blue eyes. A smile tugged at the left corner of his mouth—it hurt to give a full smile; he had tried to explain this to Oishi earlier, but he didn't think he had gotten the point across quite yet—as he gently stroked the feline's soft fur. Blue eyes sparkling, Eiji leaned forward, nya-ed quietly at the cat, and laughed with delight when it nya-ed back.

He was vaguely aware that Fuji and Ryoma had paused their game of cards to watch him as he picked up the furry creature and cradled it to his chest. He had always wanted a cat of his own, but he was always too busy—school and tennis took up most of his time—to take care of one. Karupin nya-ed again, and Eiji fought back the urge to nya back at the fluffy creature again.

Ryoma, dear Ochibi that he was, was looking faintly amused by the interaction between his senpai and his beloved cat. Eiji looked up and squinted as a camera's flash assaulted his sharp eyes. He blinked rapidly in an attempt to clear his vision before whining, "Hoi, why are you taking pictures, Fujiko(1)? Why'd you bring that camera, nya?"

Fuji smiled and asked, "Saa..."

Eiji watched his youngest teammate shiver as if he heard the tensai's unspoken words of, "Of course I brought a camera! There are going to be a lot of blackmail opportunities with everyone staying in the same house! I'd be crazy not to bring a camera."

The red-haired acrobat thought Ryoma believed otherwise, judging from his reaction. Eiji couldn't care less. He always had fun looking at the pictures his best friend took. They were almost always amusing in some way or another. Plus, because of Fuji, he had some nice pictures of Oishi and him together. That was good, right?

He thought it was.

Sometime while he had been thinking, the other two occupants of the room had gone back to playing their game. Fuji's smile seemed a little tighter than usual, as if he was slightly frustrated when Ryoma placed his last card in the pile, smirked, and said, "Mada mada dane, Fuji-senpai."

In an effort to eliminate the tension building in the room, Eiji stood up suddenly and dug through his original bag. He pulled out his tennis racket and grinned, albeit a bit lopsidedly, "Hoi! Play a game with me, Ochibi!"

The first-year watched him with a serious glint in his amber eyes before finally nodding, and they headed out to the Echizen family's private court.

Thirty minutes later, Eiji was sitting on the ground wincing at the horrible pain the bruise on his back was causing him. He should have known that he couldn't do a flip with such an injury. The bruise sent sharp, needlelike pains through his spine each time he moved, so of course it would hurt when he tried to bend in odd ways. That made sense, right?

Fuji was at his side, blue eyes open and a frown tugging at his lips, the moment he sat down in frustration. Eiji thought about protesting as that back of his shirt was lifted but decided not to; someone would see the bruise sooner or later. He heard Fuji's sharp intake of air and instantly tried to laugh off the worry he suddenly felt; he hadn't even seen his own back yet, so all he knew about it was that it hurt.

"Eiji, this looks terrible. Doesn't it hurt?" Fuji's voice was laced with shock. The red-haired acrobat thought about lying, but he found himself wincing as the tensai's fingers brushed against his injury. He nodded and agreed quickly, trying not to flinch as pain assaulted his senses, "I-it does. It really hurts a lot. Please stop touching it, Fujiko."

Fuji jerked his hand back, apologizing profusely. Eiji forced a grin and stood up, pulling the back of his shirt down to cover the offending injury. Changing the subject quickly, the redhead turned to Ryoma, "Ochibi! When do you think everyone will be back?"

Ryoma shrugged.

Eiji ignored the younger boy's uncaring attitude and announced, "We should all play a game when everyone gets back! That sounds like fun, nya?"

He pretended to miss the look that passed between his teammates.

"That does sound fun, Eiji," Fuji finally commented, smiling, "but the question is: what game should we play?"

Eiji shrugged. He hadn't really thought that far ahead yet. He glanced at Ryoma who also shrugged in response to Fuji's question. "You can choose, Fuji-senpai," the youngest regular of Seigaku's tennis club offered.

Both Kikumaru Eiji and Echizen Ryoma felt a sudden wave of fear envelop them when Fuji Shuusuke smiled and simply said, "Okay."

To be continued...

Notes:
(1) Fujiko: I think I heard Eiji call Fuji this in one of the episodes. If he didn't, I can still see Eiji using this name for him.

Glossary of Terms:
tensai— "genius" or "prodigy."
-san— formality; term of respect.
nya/hoi— nonsensical terms used by Eiji.
Ochibi— roughly "kiddo." I've also seen it translated as "our baby" in the fansubs of the anime.
Saa...— Fuji says this quite a bit. I think it means something like, "Who knows?"
-senpai— upperclassman.
Mada mada dane— "Not yet" or "You still have a long way to go."

—Wolfram003—