I'm so sorry it took SOO long to update. My other OC story is taking a lot of my attention, and so is school. ^.^' Gomen, minna. Too bad you can't come see the musical that I'm in.

Um… I have no idea how birthdays are celebrated in Japan, but I'm just going to go with the American way. Sorry.

AND I PRAY THAT YOU ALL KNOW WHERE THE SOCCER BALL THAT MIKU'S BIKE TRIPPED (for lack of a better word) OVER CAME FROM!

Enjoy the new chapter, and I'll try to update ASAP! ;D

Chapter 16

Happy Birthday!

-Flashback…-

Miku, trying to forget Saturday, trying to forget the hour beforehand, was going faster on her bike than she had ever before to the park. She sped past Eiji's house and heard the click of a closing door.

Suddenly, a soccer ball rolled into her path, and she flew off of the bike, tumbling to the ground. When Miku finally stopped rolling, she heaved herself up onto her side and surveyed the damage. She had skinned knees and elbows, scrapes up both shins, cuts on her palms, and on further examination, one deep scratch across her cheek. She sighed, and stood up…

…but promptly fell over again in pain.

She had sprained her ankle.

Not knowing what else to do, she propped herself up against the brick wall that acted as a fence for Eiji's front yard and tried to feel where the sprain had occurred. But after scrutinizing her ankle further and bringing more throbbing pain, Miku discovered that the entire left half of the joint had been injured. With a disdainful look to her now mangled bike, she limped home as best she could.

Before she completely bypassed Eiji's house, though, she looked up to his second story window and thought, 'I'm sorry, Eiji.'

-THE DAY AFTER-

Eiji awoke early, in stark contrast to the day prior, and decided to take a walk before school. Since there was no morning practice, he had some time to kill, and decided that letting the crisp, chilled early morning air wake him up.

As he walked outside in his pajamas, the non-teddy bear ones this time, he noticed a wrecked bicycle at the end of his driveway. On examining it, he identified it as Miku's. With a glance down the street towards her house, he wheeled the bike with much effort into his garage.

Miku rolled over in bed, trying not to put any weight on her injury. With a sigh, she looked over to the shiny silver crutches leaning up against her closet door. They were too tall for her by just a few inches, but even so they hurt her arms to use them. But since a wheelchair or just walking everywhere she needed to go was out of the question, she had no choice but to use them.

Yesterday, her mom had taken her to the doctor in a panic, completely forgetting that Miku needed help walking on her own. The cripple limped around until she got all the way out to the front yard where the car was waiting on the street.

Once at the hospital, it took forever and a half for the doctor, who was running late, to see Miku and her mom. But when the ankle in question was finally examined, the Kasuragis were informed that it would've been better for Miku to break her ankle than to sprain it, because the injury was the worst sprain the doctor had ever seen. The crutches were handed over to Miku, and finally the cripple could fall asleep at home at twelve AM.

-Flashback end…-

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EIJI!"

Saturday, November 28th- Eiji's birthday. He was the youngest third year on the regulars, and just now was he turning fourteen. The birthday boy wore an ecstatic expression as his blindfold was removed by Fuji and he saw all of his friends gathered in his living room. Miku, Taka, and Oishi sat on one couch (Taka in between the two; Miku was still wary of Oishi) and on the sectional were, in order: Ryoma, Momo, Rei, Kaidoh, Inui, and Tezuka, who was looking like he had a serious headache.

Eiji happily bounced over to the table that held a hand-baked and frosted cake, ready to blow out the candles. He looked around expectantly.

"What's that look for, Eiji-senpai?" Momo asked, confused.

"You have to sing!" Eiji prompted.

Miku chuckled, and started the song.

"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you!"

Fuji and Rei soon joined in, and everyone but Inui, Ryoma, and Tezuka sang along in the end.

"Happy birthday to Eiji! Happy birthday to you!"

And with that, Eiji put out his 14 candles in one blow.

The mess that ensued following the birthday song involved Eiji eating almost half of the two layer cake (until Fuji confiscated his fork), a lot of karaoke, and Miku being high on chocolate. Eiji and Momo made Tezuka participate in karaoke by duct taping the microphone to his hand and picking a "random" song for him, which just happened to be "That's What Girls Do." The stoic captain actually turned out to be quite a good singer; until he left halfway through the song, that is.

Everyone brought a present- Taka brought Eiji's favorite type of sushi. Kaidoh brought a red bandana (creature of habit). Momo promised to pay for the next time that he, Eiji, and Ryoma went out to eat at their favorite fast food restaurant (but everyone doubted that that would happen the instant the sentence came out of Momo's mouth). Ryoma brought red and blue grip tape rolls (proving to everyone where his mind was constantly present). Oishi brought an all day pass to Eiji's favorite amusement park (turns out he still knew Eiji inside and out). Inui brought his brand new juice (which was automatically poured down the nearest drain), and Miku, Rei, and Fuji pooled their resources to get Eiji a fish, which he had wanted for a long time.

Eiji looked over to his last present- a thick, rectangular object wrapped in dark green paper with a simple silver bow. When he opened it, a large book was the focus of the entire room. Eiji placed it behind him with an odd mix of a look of disdain and a smile. Everyone knew that the owner of the gift was their stoic captain.

The birthday boy excused himself for a short while and bounded up the stairs to his room. He shut the door and ran over to his bed.

Sitting down, Eiji mumbled to himself, "I need to tell her! I need to tell Miku how I feel!" He had been going over how to confess in his mind since he had woken up that day, but all of the situations turned out to be awkward in the end.

He bopped the side of his head and headed downstairs again. When Eiij arrived back in the living room, Inui, Taka, Momo, Kaidoh, Oishi, and Ryoma were standing by the door.

"Happy birthday, Eiji-senpai," Momo said with a smile. "We're gonna go now. See you!"

Eiji gaped at them.

"Ochibi! Don't leave me!" He cried, glomping on the short green-haired boy.

"Kikumaru-senpai, get off."

"Don't talk to your elders like that!" Eiji pulled Ryoma's cheeks out to the sides. "Momo, I expect you to keep your promise! You are going to pay for dinner!"

With that, the redhead bounced happily back to the living room, waving to his fellow tennis team members who were walking out his front door. He plopped down on the couch next to Miku. The only other person in the room was Fuji, who was currently hoping that something would happen, though he would never show it on his face.

Eiji shot Fuji a look, and the latter seemed to understand.

"Excuse me, I'll be right back," the tensai said, and left Eiji alone with Miku.

Silence was the ambiance of the entire room as Miku frequently fidgeted on the couch next to her redheaded friend.

Suddenly, Eiji turned to face Miku on the couch.

"M-Miku-chan," he stuttered. "I… I really li-"

"Eiji! Eiji! Eiji! Guess what!" Miku interrupted. She was clearly on too much of a sugar high to concentrate.

Eiji sighed, asking, "What is it?"

The brunette across from him stared with wide eyes. "I sprained my ankle."

Eiji blinked. "Yeah? What's your point?"

"It really hurt!" Miku cried, beaming. "It was like… Zoom! ZOOOM! CRASH! WHACK! OUCH!"

Eiji, ducking away from her violent arm gestures, couldn't help but be slightly annoyed by the fact that his crush wasn't listening. He could just see Fuji outside the door trying his best not to make any noise, but dying of laughter nonetheless.

'Why is this so hard?' he thought as Miku launched into a very descriptive and loud story about her trip to the doctor. 'It's just one simple confession. Why is it so difficult?'

"Yeah! And then the doctor said that the sprain was really, really bad! And then he gave me the crutches! They're so shiny!"

Just then, Fuji calmly strode into the room.

"Miku, your mom said that you should probably come home now," he informed his friend. The tensai shot a 'You're welcome' look at Eiji.

The acrobat handed Miku's crutches to her, and opened the front door for her to make her way to her mom's car. As he was shutting the door, Miku shouted back, "Love ya, Eiji!" in a way that could hardly be described as serious.

Eiji headed back into the living room with clenched fists. Fuji was seated on the corner of the sectional watching his friend.

"Dammit!" Eiji yelled. "Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!"

He flopped down on the couch across the room from Fuji with an angry sigh.

"Fujiko! Why am I so stupid?"

"Saa, that's a personal question."

"You're not helping! I can't figure out how to tell Miku how I feel!"

"Sorry. But just remember, you see her almost every day. There's a lot of time then. Plus, you live a block away from her."

"I can't tell her at school!"

"Why not?"

"It's not… it's not… right!"

Fuji raised an eyebrow.

"School isn't private enough!"

"Well, aren't you romantic?" The brunette chuckled, standing. "The time will come, Eiji."

"Just because your nickname is tensai doesn't mean you know everything, y'know."

"Hey, don't get mad at me. I'm sure you'll find a way. Go complain to your bear for a while and you'll find a solution, I'm sure. But now I have to go. Yuuta is coming home for the first time in a while."

After Eiji didn't respond, Fuji knew enough to leave the brooding teenager alone and let himself out.

Just as he was opening the front door, Eiji went flying past him up the stairs, yelling, "Daigorou Bear! She didn't even say happy birthday when she left!" With a laugh, Fuji shut the front door with a click.