Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis

Lady Monozuki: I apologize greatly for not having timely updates. This chapter was hard for me to write and then I've been trying to decide if I should keep writing any of these stories. Thank you all who reviewed. Please enjoy!

Chapter Five: Pieces

Tezuka would rather jump off a mountain at this moment. The tension between Syuusuke, Gen, and Keigo was painfully obvious and he could tell that this would end in nothing short of a bloodbath. They had out this off for far too long and he knew that Syuusuke would not be in the mood for listening to anyone. Ryoma was in the hospital and they needed to figure out what was going to happen to their group. He had made his choice, he had always known that it would come to this and had vowed to always stay by Keigo's side. When he made such a choice, there was seldom changing his mind. He knew that Syuusuke would go with Ryoma. Everyone had known that the fact that because their former lover still lived in the house, the tensai stayed as well. Tezuka had seen the ugly sides of all of his lovers. They believed him to be one of the strongest of them all. He really hated trying to live up to that name.

When it came down to situations like this, he was always the one who could be relied on to moderate the arguments and try to keep everything rational. There would be no rational tonight. He knew that everyone was hurting and it wasn't Ryoma's fault. It was unfortunate that Ryoma's attempted suicide was the reason as to why they were here. They knew that it would all come to this point. He had known that there would be no simple solution and that he would be needed should everything get out of hand. He eyed the obviously seething tensai that sat across from him. The usually hidden blue eyes were focused and intent on one person, Atobe Keigo. He could sense the murderous aura already starting to build. Everything that had happened needed to be placed on the table and fast. The problem was that no one seemed to want to speak. Each one seemed lost in his own thoughts, which was not good in the case of Syuusuke. Tezuka had no doubts that his sadistic lover was already trying to come up with a way to murder the man who sat beside him. He knew Syuusuke too well. They had dated before they even agreed to become a five some. The dark tendencies typically came out when you did not want them to and this was one of those cases.

They did not need the extra drama at this point; they needed to get everything sorted through. He knew probably more than the other lovers, but that was because many of them came to him because they wanted someone to talk to—or he had overheard or seen them. He knew that Keigo was struggling with his parents at this moment. He knew that they did not approve of him being in a relationship with five men, he could not exactly blame them. After all, their son was the heir to a multi-billion dollar cooperation and it was bad for press and reputation. Without the others realizing, Keigo had started to push away the others that he did not want at his side. Tezuka was the only one who had the same amount of interaction with the diva as before and he truly cared for Keigo.

Gen, he knew, blamed himself for tearing their happy foursome apart. Really though, the problems had been ensuing for long before that due to Keigo's family issues. They would probably still have ended up in a similar situation even if the other had not joined. However, that would do nothing to erase the guilt that Sanada felt and nothing to ease his mind. No, Tezuka supposed that Gen would still think of himself as the source of the problem. Which this was a good reason that they are talking about everything that had happened at this moment, he did not want someone to feel bad for something that had been created by everyone. He hoped that it would clear the air between them and hopefully allow for them to part on decent terms. He still wanted to talk to everyone without regret or fear that someone would find out. No, that he been doing that with Ryoma for long enough and he did not want to take part in that any longer.

Syuusuke was often unpredictable. However, he had good insight as to reading the tensai. He knew when to avoid and when to intervene. He also knew that Syuusuke had become reliant on Ryoma ever since their initial break-up. He had gone out with the sadist and could never find a way to satisfy the ever-changing pace that the tensai demanded. Their lifestyle had become hectic and that is why he was glad when Atobe approached him with the prospect of moving away from Syuusuke. After a while, he had started to miss the two in the morning wake-up calls and the rush of excitement he always felt from kissing the sadist. He was delighted when they all decided to get together as a group. There was an undeniable amount of chemistry between them. However, he noticed that Syuusuke had become more tame in his time with Ryoma. He could never figure that out and supposed that is why the tensai took the news the hardest. Those two were inseparable when they first got into this relationship.

The amount of love and time they put into each other made Tezuka and Atobe seem like the most boring couple on earth. Their display of affection was shy, innocent, yet rough. It was exciting to watch and you could not help but want to be a part of what they had. They had tried, yes. However, they could not measure up to Ryoma. After Ryoma had come from the incident in America and Keigo had banned him from ever entering their rooms again, Syuusuke had broken down. He had never seen the tensai so depressed and self-loathing than before. Tezuka knew that the sadist had tried to keep himself together for "Ryoma's sake", but he had witnessed the tensai putting a blade to his wrist. He never saw cuts or even scars from cutting, but he knew that Syuusuke had thought about death on more than one occasion. None of them had thought that their five some would turn out like this.

Perhaps the most mysterious out of all was Ryoma. They could never imagine the full details of what had happened to Ryoma in America. However, they knew that he had been raped by a group of people and that whatever happened there had shattered him for life. The promising star had been reduced to smaller tournaments because of that incident. The larger the crowd got, the more Ryoma would struggle to play and focus. After this incident, Tezuka realized that even though Ryoma acted tough, he was frail. Perhaps that was one of the reasons why their former lover had chosen to try and end his life. He had lost any potential due to one incident and had been unable to move forward. He knew that the tennis prodigy had tried. He witnessed the arrogant brat attend a tournament far larger than one would think. He saw how his lover had froze on the field, unable to do anything while against his opponent while the crowd booed him. The broken look in the once excited eyes revealed how much he was hurting. Tezuka never thought that there would be a day when the great prince of tennis would be reduced to such a state.

Then there was himself. He had always projected himself as strong on the outside and did not let much faze him. That of course, was the outside surface and there were few that had actually taken the time to break through the stoic barriers that he had placed. Of course, all of his lovers were experts at doing so and had taken the time to move past to see what was on the inside. He had become a pillar of support in their relationship and tried to maintain this image, even though it took a heavy toll on his health. Whenever someone was frustrated, he always allowed for his lovers to do as they wished to him. He wanted for them to feel better, but in some cases, it did not help. He had suffered just as much as the others had, if not worse. He had to deal with the brunt of Keigo's anger, which usually ended with him going to the hospital to check on his left arm. He had given up hopes on entering any professional tournaments due to his injury during his junior high days.

However, he had still wanted to play in the other tournaments. Because of the fact that Keigo had gone too far one evening, he could no longer play tennis with his left arm. At least, not without him having to deal with a tremendous amount of pain, that was a sacrifice he had made. He had not told anyone else because he knew that they would not handle that news well. In fact, he had to wonder how they would react if they learned the details now. No doubt that they would all leave far more bitter than they wanted. He had wanted for them to be on good terms, but the more he thought about it, the more his optimism was fading. He sighed. He supposed that they would have to start somewhere in order to sort out this whole affair sometime soon. Even though none of them wanted to admit it, they would be there for quite some time and it was doubtful that any of them would get much sleep.

He opened his mouth to start the conversation, but Syuusuke beat him.

"You bastard!" the tensai snapped. "This is all your fault."

Tezuka sighed. "Syuusuke," he said. "I think that you should allow for Keigo to explain his actions."

"Why should I let the person who brought Ryoma to that point speak?" Syuusuke snapped.

This was going about as well as one could hope when dealing with Fuji. Tezuka could feel a headache coming on and wondered if they had any aspirin nearby. He certainly felt like he would need them if this were to continue.

"You don't understand all of the reasons as to why Keigo did what he did," Tezuka said. Although, he supposed that he did not know either. He knew that there was problems on both ends that he could not figure out. However, he hoped that they would all come into light out of this talk. He looked at the seething tensai, who was glaring at him.

"I don't know why I'm listening to you either; you have always taken his side. I can't believe that you would too! You have suffered by his hand as well. Yet you continue to stick by him no matter what. Tell me, how is your arm doing these days? Don't think that I haven't noticed!"

Tezuka took in a deep breath. He had forgotten that Syuusuke was always observant and did not need to ask people to know what was wrong with them. No, this was not a good way to start off their talk. Syuusuke had to calm down in order for them to even begin talking. That would not happen though and supposed that he should just face the question head-on.

"My arm is not well," he said.

"It's because of him, isn't it?" Syuusuke spat. He noted that the sadist looked even closer to murdering Keigo. He knew that the tensai was always over-protective of those who he cared about and should have expected this coming for a while. After all, Syuusuke had not said anything for years and now one of their lovers was in a coma. Really, he should have seen this coming.

"I will tell you how my arm came to be in such a condition as long as you promise to hear Keigo out," he said. "There is a reason behind his actions and you don't know the full story."

"Neither do you," Syuusuke said.

To be continued…