And I can barely look at you / But every single time I do

"MOMO!"

The Regulars hurried forward toward the sleeping boy. Momo was fast asleep, head resting on his hand, elbow propped on the arm of the chair. But the loud call of his name quickly snapped him out of it and he jerked back into reality, jumping slightly in his chair. He whipped his head around in the direction of the Regulars to see who had called him and immediately knew that was a bad idea; a wave of dizziness had hit him hard as soon as he made the fast movement. He clutched his forehead and groaned, leaned his head back onto the wall behind him, and closed his eyes, trying to calm the nausea behind his eyes.

"Momo!" he heard again, and this time he heard the loud approaching footsteps of more than one person. He didn't open his eyes to acknowledge the person, but was forced to when a familiar pair of arms encircled themselves around him. He grunted with the sudden weight of Eiji.

"Eiji - "

"What's going on? Where's Ochibi? Is he okay?" all these questions were hurled at him by the hyper-active redhead. Momo grunted again.

"Eiji - " he said, struggling to speak. "Can't talk when I can't breathe."

Immediately, Eiji let go of the spiky-haired boy, looking wide-eyed. "Gomen, gomen, gomen, Momo," Eiji said rapidly. Before he could get more words out, he was interrupted by the rest of the team stopping next to them.

"Kikumaru, try to restrain yourself. Momoshiro, do you know anything yet?" Tezuka's sharp voice rang out form the front. Momo shook his head.

"Iie. No one's told me anything yet."

And they spent the better part of the night in that hallway, waiting, waiting, then waiting some more. Momo proceeded in trying to get rid of excess energy by pacing back and forth in front of the sitting Regulars. After a while of this, Kaidoh, who had been watching the pacing boy the entire time with the familiar annoyance he held, spoke.

"Hey, you keep walking around like this and you're going to dig a trench in no time."

But Momo seemed too distracted to even offer back a retort, and he just continued to pace as if he hadn't heard anything Kaidoh said. Kaidoh, unsatisfied, gave a low hiss and sank back in his chair, now averting his eyes from his rival. But not before sending him a confused glance.

This type of behavior wasn't normal for Momo. And it seemed that Kaidoh wasn't the only one who noticed. Eiji and Oishi exchanged glances; Fuji's eyes narrowed slightly; Kawamura took over watching Momo pace with worried eyes. But still the second year tennis player continued to pace, oblivious to everything except his thoughts that were slowly consuming him.

It was only when the doctor finally arrived that Momo snapped out of his trance and walked straight toward him. "How is he?" he demanded.

The doctor sighed and tapped on his clipboard somewhat nervously. "Well, I must tell you that you were very lucky to find him when you did. If he had been in this kind of weather any longer, he would not have made it."

"So he's okay?"

"Yes. He's going to be just fine."

The Regulars let out a breath they hadn't realized they were holding, some smiling in relief.

"However, the condition in which he was brought in - "

"Condition?" Tezuka spoke up, walking up beside Momo.

The doctor nodded. "There were countless bruises and cuts all over his body. Some seemed old and healing, but a large percentage of them seemed between a week and three days old."

"What?" The Regulars turned to the doctor, eyes wide, with the exception of Tezuka, whose eyes narrowed further. Momo was the only one who showed no reaction, though inside him anger was slowly brewing.

"I just wanted to know if any of you knew about this," the doctor finished, extending a hand toward the to halt any other questions until his point was clear. Oishi appeared on Momo's other side.

"Doctor, we haven't seen Echizen in weeks. Tonight when Momo found him was the only time we've seen him since he went missing," Oishi said.

The doctor smiled. "I understand. But before he went missing, has he been expressing any odd behavior? Jumpiness or changes in mood, maybe?"

The Regulars shook their heads. But Momo cleared his throat nervously. "I, uh, think I know something of this." He nearly cringed when he immediately felt eyes boring holes into him intensely. He cleared his throat again before continuing. " A few weeks before he went missing, I noticed that Echizen had been getting more and more distant from us. He had been getting colder, too. But he had always been like that, I just thought it was normal behavior for him."

The doctor nodded.

"I see. And," - he looked back at his clipboard - "There is also his illness - "

"Illness?" Tezuka cut him off again. The doctor looked up and nodded.

"Your friend Echizen has been showing severe symptoms of pneumonia."

I know we'll make it anywhere / Away from here

Wow. First A/N in this story. I haven't really had anything to say for a while. But I just wanted to let readers know that now I have a little schedule I put up on my profile that shows when each story is going to get updated. I was on time on this one. Yay for me!

Hopefully I can get all my stories finished on time. Review please! For motivation? And more updates? Review! =D