-1

In the beginning, I'd told myself that it was only a small fever. Nothing I couldn't handle.

My sister was worried about how pale I was, but I shrugged her off and gave her my usual smile.

"I'm fine, nee-san!" I would turn and leave for morning practice. It had been like that for at least two days, but the fever wasn't doing anything.

On Wednesday morning I woke up feeling the same. I sighed and maneuvered myself into the bathroom and took a quick shower before leaving for morning practice. I have a very planned routine for the morning. Shower, eat, say goodbye, get to school on time.

However that Wednesday morning something different happened. I noticed something marking the skin behind my right ear. A black spot? I found it odd and opened my eyes to stare at the spot more closely. Normal blemishes are black, and this was not normal. I flicked my hair and made sure it was covered. "I'll figure it out later..." I had to get to practice.

I hurried through breakfast and then, saying goodbye, left for school.

It isn't a long walk to school, and when I got there I went straight to the club house to get changed. I reached my shelf and grabbed out my Regulars' uniform. Placing the clothes on the middle of the bench, I unbuttoned my jacket and grabbed the hem of my shirt, pulling it off.

That was when it hurt for the first time.

My heart felt like it was being ripped in two. I grasped my chest as I slid to the floor - "W-What is this?" - My eyes were opened in shock as the pain slowly ebbed away. "I-It must have been the fever..." After that I rushed through dressing and headed to the door, not paying too much attention. So when I opened it, I ended up walking right into Tezuka...

"Ahh...Tezuka..."

"Fuji." He watched me with his usual stare and I smiled.

"Sorry, I'll head out to the courts now..." I stood to the side and walked past him.

"Fuji, the courts are locked. Here." He passed me the keys so I could open the gates.

"Thank you, Tezuka." After he had given me the keys I headed to the courts, watching as a few students showed up. I quickly unlocked the gates to the courts so the other members could get in.

I went straight to court A and to a practice wall. I started to hit the ball against the wall when it happened again. It began slow and steadily got worse. A pain in my chest and gut...I knew it wasn't good to overwork your body when in pain so I stopped for a moment.

"Fuji!" I jumped and spun around -

"Tezuka...everyone." I was surprised to see my captain and the rest of the team there, "When did you all get here?"

"A while ago...Tezuka was calling to you for a few minutes..." It was Oishi, always the worry wart.

I smiled, my eyelids closing again. "Ah, sorry, I'm not feeling too well...I think I will sit out of morning practice today...Perhaps I will be feeling better for practice later..." I turned to Tezuka to see if it was okay. For a moment I thought he looked worried but when I checked again it was his normal face.

"Okay, Fuji. Don't overwork yourself."

"Yes, thank you, Tezuka." I turned and left, heading to the club room. Once I was safely in and had the door closed, I let out a gasp and slid to the floor. God my body was in pain! I couldn't let them know that though - they would only worry about me. After a few moments I stood up and changed again, draping myself over the wall in exasperation.

Damn fever, how can it hurt this much?! I sighed and pushed myself up, heading out of the club house.

victim

The day was awful, the constant pain from my chest and the feeling of my gut rotting away was making me sweaty and dizzy. Oishi and Eiji, who are both in my homeroom, were worried over me immensely, but I couldn't let them see me in pain. What would that do for my reputation? By the time the final bell rang I had been to the bathroom four times in an attempt to vomit, hoping it would help. I couldn't, and the pain didn't leave as the day continued. It just got worse and worse. Soon I was dreading afternoon practice.

But afternoon practice came and by the time I got to the club room the pain was seeping away. Finally...maybe the fever is leaving. It was probably just a final burst,' I was thinking to myself as I walked into the clubroom to get changed.

My peace was dissolved by one half of the Golden Pair. "Fuji, are you sure you're okay? You seemed to be in a lot of pain throughout the day..."

"Oishi, I'm fine. In fact, I feel a lot better now! I think I just needed some exercise." I knew I was cheerfully lying to his face and did feel slightly guilty, but it really was nothing a cold pill wouldn't fix later.

We had all finished changing and Tezuka wanted us to run some laps. I sighed the thought of running laps; it was not exactly something irresistible for me. However, we all pushed forward and successfully managed to finish the assigned 30 laps.

"Tezuka must be in a cruel mood today." I smiled at Tezuka as he passed me. He paused, glanced at me, and continued sprinting.

Juniors and seniors pair off and have practice matches, freshmen do drills. The Regulars will be in Courts A and B doing practice matches. I watched as Tezuka spoke, crisp and to the point. We all went to our assigned places.

Echizen and Momo pair, Kaidou Kawamura pair, Eiji Oishi pair, Fuji, you're with me, and Inui can work with the wall. After we had our orders, we moved off. I wandered over to Tezuka and found an empty court for us to work with.

There were only two courts for the regulars to use, so two pairs would have to wait out for a chance to use one. Those pairs seemed to be the Golden Pair and Echizen and Momo today. Tezuka and I started off slow, not completely warmed up yet, but after a few moments Tezuka was playing to his complete potential, and only I seemed to be struggling.

"Fuji! Keep up with the ball!"

"A-Ah...yes, Tezuka..." I paused for a moment, unsure of exactly what was wrong with me. We continued playing and I just became slower and slower. The others were starting to stop to stare at me. I wasn't sure why but there was definitely someone breathing heavily, almost panting - Is that me? I looked up and found myself wiping sweat off my brow, "It is me..." It was a quiet mutter, and I quickly shook my head. I had to get back into the game. I hit the ball back to Tezuka with a large amount of force. He must have been surprised because he hit a lob - I could easily counter it. However, as I looked up at the ball, a searing pain went up my throat and I started coughing madly. The violent coughs sent me to my knees, one hand over my mouth, the other on my neck. Pain was coursing through my whole body and a violent spasm followed. The other regulars had all crowded around me and I coughed loudly again, almost a hack and I felt something wet hit my hand. My eyes shot open and I looked at my hand, dreading what I might see. The last thing I remember was droplets of blood dripping down my finger and hitting the green court, then all I saw was a dizzying black.

victim

Enter Tezuka

We all watched Fuji walk off to his class slowly, though it was painful for us to see. We all faced each other and went back to our morning practice. As I watched the members work, I thought about Fuji. He had been acting odd lately. He was probably getting sick. He needed to rest more, I could imagine how little rest he actually gave himself.

Soon enough class started and we wandered off to class. "Oishi, please come here. I need to speak with you... " The team's mother hen trotted over to me and I stood calmly, waiting for him.

"Oishi, I know you have classes with Fuji. Would it be too much trouble to ask you to make sure he is okay, you know how he is..."

"No problem Tezuka, I would have anyway."

"I know." We both turned and went to our respective classes.

By the time afternoon practice came around and we all headed out to the courts. Fuji seemed somewhat better so I paired everyone off and kept him with me. That way I could keep an eye on him if anything happened.

None of us expected it to happen, it shocked us all. We could hardly move. Fuji just started coughing and it wouldn't stop, spasms ran through his body and we had all moved around him now -

"Oishi, quick, go get the nurse!!" I shouted. I had no idea how I looked at the moment. Probably the same as I normally do.

"Ahhh!! Blood!" I looked over at Eiji, who had his mouth covered and was pointing down at Fuji. A quick glance down told me that Fuji was coughing blood now. The sickening sight of blood trickling from his mouth was too much for a few of the members, such as Kawamura and Eiji. I hurriedly knelt down and checked his pulse and picked him up; he was unconscious.

"Does someone have a cell phone?" Ryoma pulled one out, held it open and started dialing. He knew what was needed. This was beyond a school nurse, Fuji needed to go to a hospital.

I moved him over to a bench and laid him down. The rest of the members crowded around as we started to hear a distant siren. Thankfully, it only took another ten minutes for the ambulance to pull up to our tennis courts. A small group of paramedics strapped Fuji onto a table, and we all watched with hollow emptiness as the ambulance drove away.

"Tezuka-buchou...Will he be okay?" I glanced back at Eiji.

"...It's Fuji...probably..."

victim

Enter Fuji

It hurts. It was all I could think as my mind kicked into logical reasoning again. A groan escaped my lips and I turned my head. The more awake I became the more aware I was of a number of strange noises around me. I opened my eyes and was faced with complete whiteness. Slowly the events came back to me and I groaned, turning my head to the side. I felt some wires shift as my head turned. Then noises started. It sounded like talking and a few frantic shuffles.

A few men in white coats appeared in my line of vision. I think they were talking to me but I couldn't hear properly. I only got snippits of what they were saying.

"Get the...don't...just rest...the monitor...closely...dangerous...die." My head lolled back to the pillow and my consciousness was lost again.

It was a while before I woke up again. Of course I had no estimate of the time, but it felt like a long time. I slowly opened my eyes again...things weren't as bright now, thankfully. I shifted into a more upright position and looked around. The lights had been dimmed; it must be nighttime and all the workers probably left. That was good because I could take in my surroundings without being bothered. A quick scan of the room showed me it was filled with machines. The walls were almost completely beeping machines.

"What a strange hospital room..." I continued to look around and noticed the machines were connected to me. I freaked: I was connected to a room of machines, and for a reason I didn't know. I jerked forward, trying to climb out of the bed. No, this was not like me. I sat back on the bed calmly, taking a few deep breaths. Everything was fine, this must just be an advanced hospital, but then...how come it had never been mentioned?

I continued to think calmly and rationally, since I had calmed down I was able to relax. "Best go to sleep and wait until the morning...I can ask someone then." So I soon fell into a restless sleep.

victim

When I woke up again the room was filled with people, all of them staring at me. I groaned because for some reason my chest was hurting again. Just like the time I fell in the tennis courts, before I knew it I was coughing madly. Pain spread through me and I rolled over because I knew what was coming and I didn't want to end up choking on blood. My throat felt like it was being ripped apart as the blood came spitting out. It wasn't long before I was unconscious again.

victim

Enter Tezuka

No one could concentrate, practice was going nowhere and I was eventually forced to end it early. Once everyone had arrived in the club room the regulars approached me.

"Tezuka... Can we go visit Fuji in the hospital after we finish here?"

"Ah...I was planning on going to check on his condition anyways...I think it would be good if we all go to support him..." Eiji looked still upset, he and Fuji were best friends. I could only imagine how hard it was for him... well, actually, it wasn't that hard. I was surprised by how struck I was by the event myself.

Once we had all finished changing we headed off to the hospital that Fuji was at. When we all got there I made sure everyone stayed calm and didn't make a ruckus.

"Excuse me miss... We are looking for a Fuji Syusuke..." The lady at the desk looked up at all of us briefly before looking down at her computer, she scrolled down for a few minutes then looked back up at us.

"I'm sorry, he has left us." I stared at her, shocked. How could that be? Eiji started to sob on Oishi's shoulder. I glanced back down when the lady moved. Handing me a piece of paper, she said, "Here, this is where he was transferred to...it's a specialized hospital. Just opened." She was staring at Eiji strangely for his crying. I nodded my thanks and bowed slightly. Mere seconds later we were rushing out the door.

"Buchou, where do we need to go?" I quickly told them all the directions and we headed off in the general direction.

It took us a considerably long time to find the hospital that we had been trying to find. However once we got there everyone relaxed. We slowly went to the door and opened it. Inside we found a plain white room with five chairs lining one wall. To the right of the room was a stainless steel desk. One the wall facing us was a large steel door. To be perfectly honest the room was freaking most of us out.

"Can I help you?" Eiji jumped and we looked over at the desk to see a woman there.

"She definitely was not there a few seconds ago..." I glared at him and went over to the desk.

"Excuse me miss, we are looking for our friend Fuji Syusuke..."

"I'm sorry, but no one is allowed to visit him at this point in time." I watched her...she seemed odd.

"When can we visit him then?" I tried again,

"The time in which you can visit Fuji-san is undetermined at this point. Please come back in a few days." When she finished talking we were even more freaked out.

I remained calm. "Why can we not see him yet?" The lady looked unsure.

Vaguely, she said, "You can't see him yet because he is in the middle of some important tests to see if he has what we think he has." The team turned around to see a doctor standing with his hands in his pockets.

"What do you think he has then?"

"That information is not allowed to be given out, anyways please come back in a few days time if you are still concerned..." He turned and went back into the steel door from which we assumed he came. I looked over at my team.

"Well there is nothing we can do now...at least we know that he is safe and...you know." The rest of them nodded and we started to head to the door when a voice called out.

"Have a nice day now!" It was the odd receptionist lady.

Once outside we started to talk.

"That place is creepy! I swear that lady most have been brainwashed or something! Did you see the way she was acting? Freakish... "

"Eiji! Don't assume such things, it is a new hospital it is just...new looking." I watched as Oishi and Eiji discussed the hospital.

"Buchou..." I looked back at Momo-san,

"Do you think Fuji-senpai will be okay?" I sighed under my breath.

"We can only hope, this is a new hospital with new equipment and such...I'm sure he will be okay. Let us leave and come back in a few days time to check on him..."The team nodded and we all started to head back to our homes, each thinking in our own minds about Fuji.

A/N: Awsome props to my new editor Jewelieishness!!

Thanks to her She made this chap ready to be posted yayz!!

Now she gets the lovely joy of nagging me to write chappie 2. heeee