A/N: I am so tempted to bring in characters from other schools now... 'specially Ohtori and Shishido. They are quickly becoming one of my favorite pairings, but they're still ranked below the Golden Pair.

Shattered Reality
Chapter Eleven
by Wolfram003

Tezuka Kunimitsu frowned. Everyone on the tennis team—excluding Kawamura—was acting unusual during their daily afternoon tennis practice. The captain of Seigaku's tennis club had especially noticed a difference in the way Kikumaru was acting. The acrobat was being suspiciously quiet and calm.

Such an event worried Tezuka, though he was positive he didn't show it. When Kikumaru was quiet, the team's moral seemed to decrease—Inui had confirmed this fact with data earlier in the year—by a large amount. The serious boy was sorely tempted to call Inui over and have him explain what had happened since the data collector was bound to know, but he decided he would wait until whatever it was that had passed was revealed.

It didn't take long for just that to happen.

Kikumaru had been in the middle of making a spectacular lunging flip across the court to return Kawamura's shot—Tezuka had chosen the opponents for the practice singles matches that were being held; he had believed that the redhead would benefit the most by playing the stronger youth—when he had just frozen in place, wincing as he futilely attempted to keep himself from hitting the ground harshly. He was still for a moment, and all of the regulars—Oishi more so than the others—stopped what they were doing to watch him with worry lacing their features. The redhead sat up slowly and made a pained face, rubbing his back and right cheek slightly. Tezuka immediately noticed the strange absence of nya-ing that usual followed his falls.

The captain heard Kawamura Takashi become surprisingly quiet even as he gripped his tennis racket. The normally shy boy rushed over to his opponent and asked something quietly, dropping his racket and gesturing to the other boy's cheek. When Kikumaru looked away without answering—he looked a bit too flushed to be healthy—Tezuka finally decided to find out what was wrong; he was tired of being kept in the dark.

He strode onto the court, his mere presence demanding attention. Patiently, he waited for Seigaku's acrobatic player to look up at him, and his eyes widened when the redhead did just that. How could he have missed the giant, dark bruise on Kikumaru's face earlier? For that matter, how could he have also missed the fevered flush adorning the catlike boy's features?

He turned to face the remaining surrounding regulars with an expectant gaze. Someone would be telling him what happened soon, or they would all find themselves running laps, with the possible exception of Kikumaru since he was obviously ill. On that note, he reminded himself to let his team know at some point to tell him if someone was sick. It wouldn't be good if one of them passed out on the court.

"Kikumaru," he addressed the acrobat. Eiji shakily stood and cocked his head to the side, and Tezuka was again reminded just how catlike his teammate was. With a frown, he continued, "Go sit down until you feel better."

The shorter boy nodded, running a slim, shaking hand—there was some sort of makeup (Tezuka only recognized it for what it was because his mother wore it occasionally) on his jersey sleeve from where he had wiped his face; perhaps that had been how Tezuka had managed to completely overlook the bruise earlier—through his flipped-out red hair as he headed off the court toward the benches, stumbling when he was half way to them. He caught his balance just as Oishi was about to go after him to help him and continued to the place where he could rest. Even from where he was standing, Tezuka could hear the sigh of relief Kikumaru let out as he laid flat on his back in the shade, bringing an arm up to cover his blue eyes.

"Please explain to me why most of this team knew that Kikumaru was injured and ill and allowed him to play anyway," Tezuka was highly irritated, though he was once again certain he didn't show his feelings. Something had happened. It was not good, either.

Kawamura stood up from where he'd been kneeling beside his teammate, leaving his racket on the ground and stated, "I'd like to know too. Why does it look like he's been hit?"

Oishi spoke up, looking slightly guilty, "I'm sorry, Tezuka! He wasn't running a fever when we arrived. I wouldn't have let him play if he had been."

Fuji opened his ice blue eyes and stepped forward to enlighten him after he failed to respond to Oishi's apology. "Eiji's family... is having a few problems. Don't hold him responsible for not playing at his best, Tezuka. He was," Tezuka frowned even more at the tensai's hesitant pause, "hit by both his father and his sister when he tried to break up a fight between them."

Tezuka didn't know what to say. He hadn't even suspected that such an event had occurred. He nearly jumped as he was startled out his musings by Echizen's voice, "Kikumaru-senpai is very upset. Don't ask him about it." Echizen tugged his hat down over his eyes before adding, "I don't want to hear him cry again. He's loud, and I have to put up with him until he decides to go home."

The brown-haired third-year nearly shook his head as he processed the tail end of what Echizen had said. He had been surprised when Seigaku's first-year regular had requested something kindly. Tezuka somehow thought that he shouldn't have been surprised when Echizen had promptly added a snarky explanation to counter his somewhat thoughtful request.

Kawamura spoke up during the silence—and immense amounts of glaring from an angry Fuji Shuusuke and an annoyed Kaidoh Kaoru—that followed Echizen's statement, "Why were they fighting? The Kikumarus always seem to get along really well when they eat at my family's restaurant."

Then he hesitantly asked, "What did you mean when you said that you have to 'put up with him until he decides to go home'?"

Tezuka's lips were tugged downward into an even more severe frown.

Inui spoke up, holding his data book at his side—Tezuka thought it was quite unusual that he didn't seem to be reading figures from it—, "From what I have gathered, Kikumaru has taken up residence with Echizen's family for the time being and is not willing to go home because he is afraid his father will react just as badly, if not worse, to the news he shares with his sister."

Momoshiro promptly entered the conversation to relieve Kawamura of his growing confusion, "Eiji-senpai's(1) sister told their father that she liked another girl, kind of like how Eiji-senpai likes Oishi-senpai. Their dad wasn't happy with that though, not happy at all."

Tezuka blinked. Kawamura blinked. The rest of the regulars were silent before Kaidoh reached over and smacked Momoshiro across the back of the head, fshuu-ing.

"Idiot. Don't you ever think before you speak?" the bandana-wearing youth growled.

"Ow! What are you doing, Mamushi! That wasn't cool, not at all!"

Tezuka adjusted his glasses and calmly shouted, "Momoshiro, Kaidoh! Twenty laps around the courts, now!"

The captain of Seigaku's tennis club turned to face his vice-captain after he was sure the two had started on their laps, "Congratulations, Oishi. It's about time."

Oishi blushed at the sudden attention from the stoic third-year and stammered, "T-thank you, Tezuka."

Judging by his teammates' reactions, Tezuka found it safe to assume that his observation of the budding relationships on the team went unnoticed by his teammates. Apparently most of them had thought he found such a thing inappropriate. Tezuka fought back a sigh; if he hadn't approved of such a thing, he would have mentioned it.

Fuji was now openly watching him—the captain had the most inexplicable feeling that he'd been watched by Fuji before—with a strange glint in his ice blue eyes. Tezuka was not sure what to make of it. Hopefully he hadn't done anything to anger him. He really did not want to join Mizuki Hajime(2) of St. Rudolph on Fuji Shuusuke's future hit list.

"Kikumaru-san was mad about that?" Kawamura looked like he was struggling not to be offended. The rest of the team was apparently struggling with that too, for that matter. Tezuka was indifferent; someone in the world was bound to have a different opinion than him, so why should he be angered by something he couldn't change?

However, he was angered by the fact that Kikumaru's father had managed to hit him—it might have been an accident, but the redhead was still injured because of it—over that difference in opinion. He glanced over at the source of much of the energy of Seigaku's tennis club as the other regulars talked about how terrible it was that such a thing had happened.

Kikumaru Eiji appeared to be resting, literally. The other boy's breathing was deep and even, and Tezuka sincerely hoped someone would be able to wake him up to go back to Echizen's house. As he thought of that, he reluctantly decided to ask, "Is everyone staying at your house, Echizen?"

The snarky first-year tugged his hat adjusted his hat as he nodded in response, "Yes, buchou."

Fuji's eyes alit with a new emotion that Tezuka did recognize—mischief. The serious boy was instantly on guard when the tensai smiled nicely, closing his eyes, and suggested, "Tezuka, Taka-san, you two should join us. It'll be fun. Plus, Echizen has his own tennis court."

The captain of Seigaku's tennis club knew better though. Fuji was up to something. He had understood most of the underlying message in his words. "Tezuka, Taka-san, everyone else will suffer because I will not be happy if you don't come and stay with us too. Plus, I have blackmail on both of you, so you might want to do what I say."

The stoic captain felt a bead of sweat trickle down his face at the veiled threat.

Tezuka let his gaze slide over his teammates and was startled when he registered Echizen's reaction to Fuji's statement. The boy had choked on his customary grape Ponta, and Oishi was patting him on his back, asking if he was okay. Apparently Echizen had learned to speak Fuji's unspoken language sometime since he joined the club. It seemed that the boy understood what wasn't being said better than him, too. Tezuka wondered why that piece of knowledge made him feel oddly jealous.

"I can probably come over after I help 'Tousan with the restaurant," Kawamura offered. He hesitantly smiled, "I could probably convince 'Tousan to let everyone eat there for free, too. Would that help out any?"

Oishi smiled kindly, "Taka-san, that's really nice of you. I'm sure Echizen-san would be glad to hear your offer. Feeding a group of nine growing boys probably isn't something he wants to do. Well, Nanako-san actually cooked yesterday, but my point is that that's still a lot of food for one person to cook."

Kawamura nodded understandingly.

Tezuka sighed, "If I come, will someone be willing to explain what is going on in a bit more detail?"

Fuji nodded enthusiastically and volunteered to do so.

Tezuka sighed and yelled out to the rest of the club—at which point Kikumaru quickly sat upright on the bench, blinking sleepily and swaying slightly as he tried to gain his bearings—that practice was over. He heard faint cheers from some of the first-years. Practice had gone on longer than he had thought while he had been trying to get the story out of the regulars.

He told his closest teammates that he'd meet up with them at the Kawamura sushi house later. They agreed, gathered a half-asleep Kikumaru in their midst, and left.

This was going to be a long week that would result in a terrible migraine, Tezuka decided as he tried not to focus on Fuji's strange glances from earlier. He took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. He already had a bad headache.

To be continued...

Notes:
(1) Eiji-senpai's: I just realized that Momo actually refers to Eiji as "Eiji-senpai" instead of "Kikumaru-senpai" in the anime.

(2) Mizuki Hajime: I am sorely tempted to bring Mizuki into this story somehow (does anyone have any ideas on how to write him into this?). I adore his laugh, his manipulation of everyone, and his person in general greatly. Nfu.

Glossary of Terms:
nya— A catlike noise used by Eiji.
tensai— literally "genius" or "prodigy."
-senpai— upperclassman.
fshuu— A snakelike hiss used by Kaidoh.
Mamushi— means "Viper"; Momo uses this to refer to Kaidoh.
-buchou— roughly translates to "captain."
-san— formalities; show levels of respect.
'Tousan— dad.

--Wolfram003--
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