Chapter 4

An awkward silence ensued in which Fuji could think of nothing to say, nothing at all. Eiji, being Eiji, had already started munching on his lunch by the time one of the others found their voices. "I heard Fuji-san likes honey?" Asa asked, turning her head to look at him; eyes raking over his face.

When one first looks at Fuji Syusuke, it is almost immediately noted by even the painfully oblivious of people his tranquil and serene face. His slender build leaned more on the delicate, feminine side, but he was not lacking muscle, courtesy of tennis. His brown hair fell in a gentle wave down his forehead, framing his face. He wasn't what some would call strictly "handsome," simply because of his original build. But then again, it did not seem correct to call him simply "beautiful," either, which was why around school he was simply coined as "good looking" or, on more extreme cases for the more serious of fans, "a pleasant feast for the eyes."

Similarly, Fuji was regarding Ijuuin Asa with an unreadable gaze, sharp blue eyes closing back into their usual smiling lines. If there was to be a beauty pageant held at Seishun Academy, she definitely would not be the winner, he decided by ways of conclusion. While one wouldn't call her "ugly" she was plain, the kind of normal girl you'd see and then forget later. To help in that process was the fact that her face was devoid of any make-up, as opposed to most of the other third year girls. Her skin was light, her face always slightly paler than normal due to her illness, blue eyes set into them with the ability to pull and drag you in when you looked at them until you felt like you were drowning. Truth be told, she looked like she could break at any moment. Almost like a porcelain doll.

Remembering her question, he nodded, taking a seat next to Eiji, who handed him his lunch by way of shoving it in his chest. "Ah, I was always told that honey was the only sweet thing I would willingly eat in large quantities when I was little," he said lightly. It would have been an understatement to say that it did not worry his mother immensely when he was younger; especially when Yuuta was going through a phase of copying everything he did, ultimately resulting in his little brother having a cavity and having to visit the dentist. "If I remember correctly, it's gotten me into quite a bit of trouble," he said amiably as he unwrapped his bento.

"I see." Another period of awkward silence, in which was filled only with silent chewing. "Ne, Kikumaru-san," she suddenly piped up.

"Just call me Eiji, nya!" Eiji mumbled around a mouthful of his rice ball.

"E-eiji… san," she stuttered, clearly not used to the request. Brushing it aside, she continued on. "What do you like?"

Eiji's head shot up, the indigo eyes wide in surprise. "Me?" he asked, pointing at himself after popping the rest of his rice ball into his mouth and swallowing it. "I like chocolate!" he stated happily, and flashed a big grin. Fuji had a feeling that the redhead had this all planned out, only because he knew him so well and how the acrobatic player surrounded himself with an air of innocent mystery, if such a thing was even possible.

Asa grinned back. "I'll remember that," she promised, and he looked like a satisfied cat, although Fuji wondered why Asa would even be asking this, or why Eiji had felt it necessary to reveal his sweet tooth.

He got an answer soon. "My mother took me over to the Ijuuin's house the other day right after dinner," he explained patiently. "She works as a client for her mother, and they had some kind of business transaction thing to do."

Fuji raised an eyebrow. "And your mother willingly brought you along?" It sounded like it was important, and normally important transactions were done without the use of accompanying children.

Eiji looked sheepish. "Well, I kind of made an excuse," he said, giving a vague wag of his hand. "But…!" here he wagged a finger in front of Fuji's face while looking dead serious. "Aa-chan is a really good cook."

"Oh, I get it now. You went for free food?"

A moment's silence, then, "Maybe..." Fuji's eyebrow rose higher as he waited for his friend to elaborate. Such as explaining to him just how all of this connected with the other things. "I asked Aa-chan if she'd bake something to cheer you up," he finally relented, shrinking back slightly when Fuji didn't immediately respond. Was his friend planning some kind of sadistic comeback to his plan?

Kami-sama must have taken a liking to Eiji that day, because Fuji wasn't planning some sort of sadistic comeback. Not yet, at least. "You… use a pet name already?" he asked slowly, the gears of his mind turning as he processed everything. Somehow, when words came out of a serious Kikumaru Eiji's mouth, it was harder to understand than when he was his usual happy self.

Eiji blinked, feeling slightly relieved that no sadistic smile had crept over his friend's face. "It just… kind of came out by itself," he mumbled. Indeed, Eiji took great liberties when it came to naming people. Echizen was 'Ochibi' for the most part, although one week Eiji had felt inspired and had tried all sorts of new names, all of which had annoyed the tennis prince to no end. Same with Fuji's own pet name of Fujiko, which had been made one rainy day when the third-years had decided to have a study session at Oishi's house and Eiji had become bored with mathematics.

Fuji nodded, deciding that that was probably the best explanation he would get as of yet. "Are you alright with it, Ijuuin-chan?" he asked. Although the pet name had a certain flow to it (he had to admit he liked the way it simply rolled off the tongue), he felt that he didn't know the girl well enough to call her anything but 'Ijuuin-chan.' Perhaps he could try next week or something. His sadistic side was just dying to torture someone. Anyone.

Woe to anyone who would have the pleasantries of crossing his path in the next three days.

"It's fine. Kurumi wanted to bake cookies, anyways, so I'll experiment with the honey and the chocolate," she reassured the tensai, who gave a nod and settled back to finally finish his lunch.

The three of them finished with a good ten minutes until the bell would ring for afternoon classes to begin. Eiji took this time to tell Asa all about Fuji. All of his counters for tennis, his grades (how Eiji knew about that Fuji would never know), his personality, etc. Eiji took great pains to stress the sadistic side of said genius, to which he only offered a mysterious smile. To his surprise she didn't look too surprised, simply saying something along the lines of: 'No one's perfect. There are always one or two flaws.' So his darker half was a flaw; it was actually quite interesting.

And then Eiji launched himself into telling her about Fuji's past relationships. He winced; they didn't bring back particularly good memories. Such as the incident in the second-year of junior high in which he would forever swear that he made the worst mistake of his life. The girl was a member of the Chemistry Club who sat happened to sit in front him. She was cute, smart, and the school's 'queen.' And he had liked her, finally working up the courage to tell her what he felt one day shortly into the month of February. To which she had answered:

'I'm quite flattered, Fuji-san, except…'

She never did finish her explanation, but actions spoke louder than words, and a senior had walked up and pulled her protectively towards him. Taken. Just his luck. And it was even worse that the senior was on the tennis team and enjoyed finding any way to ridicule him, usually not in the form of an actual tennis match in which Fuji could beat him easily, but in other ways. Most involved getting around the fuku-buchou at that time, in which he would then be assigned mass amounts of laps (it was a common misconception that only the buchou could assign laps. Oishi was just too kind to do it, so Tezuka was the one who dished them all out).

Unfortunately for the senior, it ultimately led to good results in the upcoming ranking matches, earning Fuji a spot on the Regulars before Seigaku was beaten in the District Finals.

The experience didn't end in total disaster, he mused, but still, he would prefer Eiji didn't blabber on about it. He did have pride, after all.

"You don't look very well, nya!"

Two pairs of eyes shifted to her face, which had paled. Her hands had reached behind her to grip at the mesh fencing. A weak smile, "I'm fine, Kikumaru-san." Eiji pouted but didn't correct her, because a puzzled look had stole across her face.

There's… She counted again, wavering images dancing before her eyes as her lungs constricted, trying to force needed oxygen into her system. This was common, but she hadn't had one of these 'attacks' since last month so she had been hopeful that she wouldn't embarrass herself too much in her new school. There's three of each…! Having finished her counting, which was difficult because each image kept moving from side to side (because both boys had moved closer, eyeing her with concern), and had reached the final analysis that there were now apparently three Kikumaru Eijis and three Fuji Syusukes.

The tip of her tongue poked out of her mouth to lick dry lips. "I'm fine," she repeated again, in a futile attempt to reassure them. She didn't have to see them to know she failed.

The three Eijis turned to the three Fujis, saying, "Aa-chan doesn't look well." There was no 'nya' after his sentence; she faintly registered this as she pushed herself up, still gripping the fence, formulating an escape plan. She had to make it to the clinic without passing out. Simple. Go down three floors, across half the school, then talk to the nurse and call her father to see when the next scheduled doctor's appointment was.

Piece of cake.

"Where are you going, Aa-chan?" The three Eijis were bouncing in front of her, and she squeezed her eyes shut in order to give as level a response as she could possibly muster up.

"I'm going to the clinic."

"We'll walk you, then," came the wavering voice of the three Fujis. She wanted to say 'no,' say that she was perfectly fine with navigating her shaking self down the three flights of stairs, but couldn't do it. Now came the throbbing pain in her chest, and she glowered, angry at herself. This was only supposed to happen when she played sports, wasn't it? It wasn't supposed to happen now, when she had done nothing but sit on a bench.

She moved forward, and instantly regretted it. The world tipped dangerously and then she found herself pitching forward, testing out the forces of gravity for herself. Like any other extremely embarrassed person, she wished the ground would suddenly open up; send her crashing down to the ground floor.

And like any other embarrassed person would experience, the ground did not open up. She did not crash down three stories to hit the ground floor. She did, however, land on something much softer and warmer than the ground, feel something wrap around her waist, before cursing herself and her stupid luck and then surrendering to the folds of darkness.

***

"Where are Fuji-kun and Kikumaru-kun?" The teacher looked around her classroom with raised eyebrows as she surveyed her class. The far left corner was empty, a detail that was easily noted once everyone had settled down back in their seats. Instantly, hushed murmurs broke out, which was silenced by one of the teacher's famous glares. "Answer me directly, or don't talk at all," she snapped. "Now, where are—"

The classroom door slid open, revealing Eiji. The boy didn't wear his usual smile, instead, looked at the floor in front of him with a troubled gaze. "Sorry I'm late," he mumbled.

The teacher blinked, silent, then recollected her composure. "Welcome back, Kikumaru-kun," she said briskly. She held out a hand in an imperious manner, palm to the ceiling. "Do you have a late pass?"

Eiji didn't seem to hear her, for he was silent for a few seconds, so when she began to repeat herself he suddenly sprang back to life. "Yea! I forgot to ask for a late pass, nya!" he screeched in shock, looking mortified. What kind of pain awaited him in detention? He shuddered to think about it; their teacher was rumored to be extremely harsh to students staying after for detention.

"Eiji? What are you doing screaming in the hallway?"

"Oh?" Eiji turned around to see Fuji, who was standing with a strained smile on his face. "Oh, Fuji. Why are you here? How's Aa-chan?"

"The nurse kicked me out. Aa—Ijuuin-chan is awake, but the nurse is keeping her in the clinic for a while, still." The pet name just begged to slip out of his mouth, he realized with a frown. Normally he wouldn't have really minded, it would make good teasing material, after all, but he had a strange gut feeling that Eiji was just waiting for him to use it. And then finding some way to embarrass him using his own happy-go-lucky attitude, the way Fuji himself terrorized the people he didn't like with his sadistic little schemes. It's hard to think of which he would rather suffer by: Eiji's happily deadly schemes or his own sadistic ones. "I have Eiji's late pass as well as mine, sensei," he said, taking out two small slips of paper with writing crammed onto it.

Eiji breathed a sigh of relief; he was saved, for now. "Thanks," he uttered out of the side of his mouth as he fell into his chair. Fuji simply nodded, dropping the paper slips into the teacher's hand.

"Thank you, Fuji-kun," she said curtly, skimming them over and then throwing them into the wastepaper basket. "Now, what about Ijuuin-chan?" A dangerously sweet smile crossed her lips. "You two wouldn't happen to know where she is, do you?"

Fuji was in absolutely no mood for playing mind games with the teacher. Normally, he'd enjoy spinning some sort of never-ending web of words, in which the teacher would eventually become hopelessly lost in his story and then beg for him just to spit out the information. It brought him much satisfaction to take in the flustered face, the overly bright eyes, and the faint quaver of the voice. No one lasted long before an attack by Fuji Syusuke. "Ijuuin-chan is in the clinic," he said flatly, sitting at his desk.

Stunned silence reined the classroom for a brief period of time. It was only broken by the clicking of high heeled shoes as the teacher made her way to the phone, punching in the numbers to the school clinic. A few exchanged words, then she hung up, looking slightly paler than she had when she picked up the device. "Well, that settles that," she said simply. "Ijuuin-chan may be joining us again shortly before the day ends. If and when she returns, due to politness, we will ask nothing. Absolutely nothing." That dangerous glare swept across the room, and there were faint nods of acknowledgement.

Fuji just pulled out a few books and opened them, concentrating on copying down the lesson, mind focusing on a topic totally different from his math.

***

The nurse looked up when the door slid open, smile ready on her face. Probably just a few scrapes and bruises; nothing too serious ever happened at Seigaku. So her surprise and shock was clearly evident when a for-once silent Eiji ushered in Fuji, who was carrying a girl, into the clinic. "There's three," came the faintest murmur from the not fully conscious figure in the boy's arms. "There were never three before…"

"What happened?" she asked, instantly herding Fuji and Eiji into the adjourning room where several beds were situated. "Put her down. Did she faint?" No one had fainted on school grounds in a long time. And she was puzzled; that day wasn't particularly warm, simply mild. Tokyo, Japan was experiencing some rather nice weather lately.

"Her face paled and then she passed out," Fuji said automatically.

"Name?"

"Ijuuin Asa." This time Eiji spoke, looking worried as he hovered by the bed. "She'll be alright, right?" he asked anxiously.

The nurse had already bustled out of the room, returning moments later with an impressively fat folder. Fuji's eyebrow rose in question when the nurse sat down at a chair, using her lap as a table, if not a very small one. "Her file," was the brisk reply. "All medical history is recorded here by the doctors. Do you two know her well?" She glanced up and searched their faces with her dark eyes.

Fuji fidgeted slightly under her gaze. "Not too well," he admitted. "But is it serious?" He was genuinely worried, the nurse found with a satisfied smile as she finished scrutinizing his face.

"The file simply states it as congenital heart disease," the nurse said, glancing down at the fat little folder.

Fuji frowned, while Eiji simply looked horror-stricken. "Isn't that not so bad?" he asked. "I mean," he added hastily, after thinking about what he had said and deeming that it had come out in the wrong sense, "aren't most people with it not like this most of the time?" He gestured to the bed, and she sighed. Fuji wasn't a genius for nothing, that was for sure. "And aren't correction surgeries available as well?"

Shuffling the papers and then returning them to their little folder, she heaved a sigh. "It's not just that, it seems. She was born with a weaker heart than the average person, and coupled with the hole; it seems to cause more problems than to an average person with just congenital heart disease." Fuji frowned again, about to say something, but she held up a hand and he wisely remained silent. "Weak hearts themselves should not be too much of a problem, but in extreme cases where it is exceptionally weak, they are. I believe that the current plan is that in early June she will undergo a correction surgery for the atrial septal defect, and if that is successful they will do a more in depth study of the rest of her problems."

Eiji looked even more horrified at this point and Fuji looked pleasantly confused. A shifting in the bed turned their attention to it, and Asa blinked awake, frowning at the ceiling. Eiji breathed a sigh of relief, exclaiming, "You're awake, nya!"

A weak smile answered him as the girl pushed herself up. The nurse made no movement to help her, but she still managed on her own. "Ijuuin-chan," she said briskly, standing up. Asa's eyes found the fat folder in her hands, and her gaze shifted from Fuji and Eiji to the nurse, expressionless. "Are you feeling better?" The onslaught of questions began as the nurse whipped out a notebook and pen. "Were you sick with a fever or cold lately? Has anything happened in your life currently that would cause you stress?" On and on this went, with Fuji and Eiji hovering around the bed.

When Asa finished answering the questions (She was feeling much better, thank you. She had not been sick lately. She had just moved here, and was currently in an unpacking frenzy, so yes, she supposed that could be stressful.) she turned to Fuji and Eiji. "Gomen," she mumbled. "It hasn't happened in a while; I'm sorry if I worried you two."

Eiji grinned at her while Fuji started his own bout of questions. "Is it just congenital heart disease?" he asked bluntly. She looked mortified for a second before recollecting herself, shaking her head in defeat. "Ah… you'll have to be very careful, then. Make sure you get a lot of rest and drink lots of fluids." Eiji simply stared at him; since when had Fuji become the doctor? That was Oishi's job.

The nurse stood and began to shoo them out of the door. "Let her rest a bit. Go on back to class. I'll write late passes for you two." The door to the room which housed the beds clicked shut, and she buried her drew her knees to her chest, leaning her forehead against it.

There was no more need for pretending.

***

"Fuji, you don't seem to be with us today."

Fuji glanced up from where he was setting down dishes, working with a painstaking patience in arranging and rearranging them as he thought. He was back home, in his kitchen, and both his mother and his sister were regarding him with open concern. Yuuta was on the couch in the living room, flipping idly through channels on the TV as he listened in on the conversation in the living room. Yoshiko had let Yuuta keep watching whatever program he had found, saying that he needed time to unwind since he was always at the dorms. "He should enjoy his time back," she had said, and Fuji and Yumiko had wholeheartedly agreed.

"Are you sure you're not falling ill?" Fuji Yoshiko asked worriedly as she automatically reached up to feel his forehead. "You don't seem to have a fever…" She trailed off and smiled faintly when Fuji fully closed his eyes, letting out a tiny sigh and pressing gently against her hand. When was the last time he had done that? Her memory said second grade. "You've grown up too fast," she joked lightly. A ghost of a smile crossed his face as she moved away to bring the food to the table, calling for Yuuta as she did so.

The four Fuji's were seated at their tables and had already started eating when the doorbell rang. Yumiko stood up to get it while exchanging curious glances with her younger brothers and mother.

"Can I help you?" she asked when she answered the door. Her brow rose in surprise; since when had they had girls as visitors to their house?

Asa blinked at the woman who answered the door, her hands tightening on her hamper and umbrella, as it had started to rain again and she didn't look forward to being wet. "I'm Ijuuin Asa, a classmate of Fuji-san's," she introduced herself. "Is Fuji-san home?"

Yumiko was silent for a moment before turning into the house. "Syusuke!" she called down the hall. "Your classmate is here to see you!" Girlfriend, perhaps? She could only wonder at it, although sometimes she looked forward to the day when both her brothers would bring home a girlfriend. But when that day comes she would most likely feel that they've grown up much too fast.

Fuji padded up and took the door from her, thanking her with a nod of her head. "Hello, Ijuuin-chan," he said kindly. "Is something the matter?"

Asa fumbled for words for a few seconds before bowing deeply. "I'm terribly sorry about what happened in school today!" she said breathlessly. Her hair hid the most part of her flaming face. "Umm… please take this as an apology," she mumbled, shoving the hamper into a stunned Fuji's arms and then turning to flee back down the walkway.

The only problem was, she never got to, he caught her wrist and said, very calmly, "I'll walk you."

"Iie… you don't need to…"

"I'll get a jacket. Come inside." And she was all but dragged into the Fuji house, standing nervously in their front hall as Fuji walked to the kitchen. A few hushed words were passed between him and his family, and then he reappeared, stopping at the closet to take out two jackets, one of which she saw to be the blue and white of the Seigaku tennis regular's jacket.

"Put it on; the rain will make it chilly. You'll catch a cold." The jacket was handed to her and all she could do was stand there stupidly as he put on his own. He flashed a bright smile at her and took it out of her hands, turning her around with a gentle push and putting it over her shoulders. "A jacket has no use if you just hold it," he chided gently.

Voice and ability to move returning, she flushed a bright crimson and wrapped it more snuggly around her. "T-thank you," she muttered. Her only answer was a smile as Fuji opened the door, taking her umbrella with him. She followed obediently like a duckling follows its mother.

Fuji held the umbrella between them and walked on her right side, since there was a wind blowing the rain that way. They were silent for the majority of the trip, although Fuji took note that she was uncharacteristically quiet. They passed under a streetlamp and he frowned to see how pale the cheeks were. "You'll need to get a good amount of sleep today," he said matter-of-factly. "You still look a little pale."

"H-hai."

He smiled and squeezed her shoulder gently before stopping. They had made it to the gate in front of the Ijuuin's house. She unlocked it and pushed it open, and the two of them walked up to the porch, where he handed back her umbrella. She moved to return the jacket but he stopped her. "You can return it tomorrow," he said lightly. "I'll be going back, then." He turned to leave.

"Fuji-san, are you sure you don't want to take the umbrella with you? You'll catch a fever if you run all the way back."

He turned his head over his shoulder and flashed her a radiant smile. "I'll be fine," he stated, giving a little wave and then running off into the rain. She sighed, hugging her arms around her shoulders. I hope he doesn't get sick going back, she thought as she unlocked her front door and let herself into the house. Kurumi's eyes widened to the size of saucers when the grade-schooler took in the blue and white jacket, with the name 'Fuji' embroidered in black thread on the hem.

"Syusuke-onii-chan is so kind, isn't he?" she squealed, clapping her hands.

"I suppose," she said, shrugging off the jacket and preparing to head upstairs. "Except I think he's a bit… strange. Kind but strange."

And halfway to his house, Fuji stopped to sneeze. He smiled, chuckling to himself. It looked like someone was talking about him behind his back. Still laughing to himself, he continued on his way home.