From Far Forgotten

A/N: For some reason this is just flowing out so well. Hopefully I'll escape writers block... but doubtfully. All the references to any sort of supernatural rule come from the author's imagination. I really should try to research some of this. ;;

Why did I talk about calculators? Because mine broke sniffle . it was my favorite one too! ... good thing I have a spare.

Chapter 2: Inui's Memories (The Rival)

Clicks of plastic and taps on paper patterned echoed within the locker room as the last of Seigaku's tennis club members began to drift home. Over and over again, the pattern repeated itself - double check, triple check, Inui would check again on his computer once he got home, but right now he was too frustrated to even stand. He checked the expenditures, the times, last month's analysis, carefully laying out the formulas into an algebraic array to help sort things out methodically. Still wrong. He scratched out his previous calculations, then started over from the beginning.

Still, that irritating inconsistency remained. It had started so small, too, then as he started to explore the cause, grew wider and deeper, and more troublesome with every punch on his calculator. Soon enormous pits tore into many of his observations, threatening their validity in a most unnerving manner.

Data does not lie. But incomplete data is even worse than having absolutely no data at all.

"Sempai..." his observant ears immediately marked a concerned lift in Kaido's voice. "Are you planning on having training later? Uh, if you're busy, that's fine and all..." Kaido had never seen his sempai so... perturbed. And he had never seen him do calculations outside his room, on anything other than his personal computer. Usually the pragmatic senior would note his observations during the day, then compile the data once he got home. Inui liked to keep his methods generally veiled, but he had let Kaido in on a few of them, to the younger boy's great honor.

"Ah, Kaido, I - " The data man paused, his head tilted up in such a way that the light struck his glasses and reflected out solar beams. "I suppose vexing over it will not change anything. I will meet you at the regular time."

Kaido wished he could see his sempai's eyes to see what was troubling him. As things were, he couldn't even look at Inui's face without being blinded. "Sempai, can you tell me what's wrong?"

Inwardly Inui felt pleasure at his kohai's concern, and the emotion momentarily helped quell his discomfort. Nothing showed beyond his glasses, though. "Ah. I was calculating this month's expenses, when I noticed a discrepancy in the amount of led purchased verses the amount that I have used or have stored. Normally I would ignore such a minor dissonance, however, it led me to notice my time schedule was off as well."

Kaido looked lost, but he nodded as if he understood. It was rare of his sempai to be so talkative, after all, so whatever it was it must have been really bothering him.

"Normally I pace myself in order to increase time use efficiency, and I keep records of any deviations. However, I have noticed several gaps over the past month that show I have been collecting data that I cannot find recorded. Or rather, it seems that I did nothing at all during those time periods, yet I am positive that my normal schedule would have required me to spend that time data collecting. Unfortunately, I have no memory of those specific instances."

Kaido repeated the mantra in his head: smile and nod.

"Missing data is an unfortunate event. More distrubing, however, is the data I have collected on some of the regulars - in particular, Tezuka and Ryouma. Both of them show a progressive development that continues according to my calculated itinerary. But what I cannot understand is the formula I used to calculate said itinerary - it seems as though I was considering an unknown factor that is now nonexistent."

"So..." Kaido intervened (he really was listening! ...and trying to make some sense of his sempai. He always tried, really.), " Tezuka and Ryouma have become unpredictable?"

"Oh heavens no," Inui gleamed. "The formula is correct, or rather, it has been proven by their current play styles. The problem is simple," he fingered his glasses, and Kaido stifled a relieved sigh at his sempai's typical sign of conclusion. "Yesterday I was able to understand these calculations. Today I am not. All evidence points towards missing data - a large amount of it, actually - that I have no memory of recording. Which suggests that the fault lies with both my notebooks, several of which must be missing, and my memory."

Kaido just stared. Inui was growing weirder every day.

Inui sighed, perfectly aware that his kohai didn't understand a thing. But he couldn't help but be pleased that Kaido was still trying to listen. "In other words, my memory has been tempered with."

"Oh..." Kaido finally said, after an unintelligible pause. "But sempai, how is that possible?"

Inui nodded, "Good question, Kaido. Usually, this would be absurd to even cogitate." However... there was something that told him he was on the right track. Like, the damp feeling of led filling his stomach, or the sleepy drone that made the back of his neck tinge uncomfortably. "I am thinking that perhaps, both the data, and my memory, concerns one particular event, or individual."

He hated to rely on this ... a gut instinct. Yuck. How disastrously unscientific. Yet he couldn't help but feel there was someone he was connected to, someone who perplexed him and challenged him both intellectually and as a tennis player, someone he felt rivalry towards yet complacent in their relationship, as if he had found someone who he was mentally on par with and could exchange observations. But this someone did not exist. Not in his data. Not in his memory. But his instinct kept telling him otherwise...strongly enough for him to actually consider the possibility of his memory being modified.

"And memory can scientifically be altered. Certain chemicals can cause memory loss, such the common date rape drugs, GHB and Rohypnol. Physical traumas ranging from brain injury to stroke to alcohol abuse can degrade memory, though usually in a more random manor. In this case, the cause would more likely be something psychological, such as hypnotism. The mind can be trained to reject certain key words, such as a person's name. Tell me, Kaido, what do you think would happen if you could not mentally connect to a person's name?"

Pursing his lips in surprise as the sudden question, Kaido paused for minute to try to think about what Inui just said. Name? Connect? Mind manipulation? He shivered. Maybe he read too much science fiction, but it seemed like a pretty bad thing when modern technologies tried to manipulate the human thoughts. What if computers took over and could not only control everything by force but by brainwashing people too? What if the government tried to do that?

He shook off his superstitions. "Sss…I guess if you didn't know someone's name, you'd have to think of him as the redhead guy, or something." That seemed like a logical answer, he thought.

"Ah, you would imagine so. However, what if you actually did know that name? You know the name, but are unable to access your memory of it. If you knew the 'redhead guy' is named Eiji, then you would from that point on think of him as Eiji. All your memories would be attached to the name 'Eiji', even the memory of what he looks like. This is our brain's way to catalogue information; we attached a title to a piece information, and connect these titles as in a set of chains. If one title is blacked out, we will not be able to access the information for the rest of the chain. In other words, we will forget everything about that person, as if he never existed."

"Fshuu…." That seemed like a heavy load. Kaido vowed (again, for the umpteenth time) to stick to tennis, and stay far far away from data, math, science, and all other things related. "And you think that happened to you? The brain washing thing." He would never admit it, but it made him angry to think anyone might have done something to his sempai. If something had been done, then Kaido Kaoru would find that guy and –

"No, not really, but I am considering the possibility." Inui fingered the metal bridge of his glasses, as if to readjust the shine for the setting sun. "Ah, Tezuka."

The stoic buchou had just walked by, about to take his leave from the locker rooms and his temporary reprieve from his duties as captain. "Yes, Inui?"

"Have you noticed any discommodities as of late? As if, something is off? Like a cognition of something misplaced." A gut feeling, he wanted to say, but Tezuka would find that too out of character.

Tezuka eyed his teammate with his usual apathy and nonchalantly replied, "No."

"I see. Never mind then."

Tezuka gave a quick nod, then hurried on with little consideration to Inui's quirks, his mind already occupied on modifications for tomorrow's practice. There was always room for improvement, and the team couldn't afford to be careless.

Inui watched him go, not writing any data, but with a frown.

Leaning against some of the lockers, Fuji chuckled in amusement listening to Inui's banter. Somehow he had found himself here, in the locker room, though he didn't really know why. Maybe he could only be where people were talking about him. It was interesting, though, listening to his teammate's explanation; the data man didn't seem to actually believe it himself, but Fuji felt somewhat enlightened. He couldn't say he wasn't nervous about what had happened to him… he still wasn't sure what had – but he knew he couldn't afford to panic.

Inui's instincts were surprisingly sharp for someone who relies on exact calculations. Fuji wasn't much of a plotter – he didn't carefully arrange scenarios, or predict reactions; he had always relied on his instincts to manipulate things as he pleased. His sixth sense was outstandingly powerful, and he had always assumed Inui and other data collector types used their observations to replace that sense. Only now did he pleasingly discover that Inui had very strong spiritual feelings, and his heart warmed towards the taller man. At the same time, sorrow graced against his veins, as he wished he'd noticed sooner and become closer friends with Inui. Silently he vowed to do so, if he ever got the chance.

Amazingly Inui had picked Tezuka, of all people, to question. He hadn't even asked Kaido if he felt any displacements, despite explaining everything else to his kohai. And yet Fuji found himself biting his lip anxiously, waiting for the answer.

And a simply answer it was. Fuji already regretted having listened in. It would have been easier to just remain ignorant.

No.

It was such a Tezuka like answer, sure. What did Fuji expect? But… for him to say it so coldly… his eyes didn't even quiver. True, Tezuka kept an awesome poker face, but Fuji read him very well, and usually, the tensai would find swirling passion in those hazel irises. But all he'd seen just now was the usual cool, composed buchou that he'd known before they'd gotten close.

Eiji had noticed, Oishi had noticed, even Inui – but why not Tezuka? A little thorn pricked at his chest. The stiff locker room air seemed to dry out his throat, though with his body the way it was that shouldn't have been possible.

So small, and yet that impassive reaction – or rather, lack of, really hurt. Fuji felt a little angry, too. He was beginning to understand the side effects of this curse – it had removed him from his friends' minds, but not his connection to their souls. Even without being able to remember him, Eiji had noticed all the changes in his life, the missing pieces that didn't make any sense. The redhead had been upset, then devastated, believing that he'd lost something valuable even though he couldn't recall anything gone. Inui may have noticed through his calculations, but his hypothesis being so accurate was due to his inner sense of conflict, his instincts that screamed something was wrong.

But Tezuka's life had continued as always. He was the elite captain of Seigaku's tennis team as always. He focused on training and his players as always.

He was just like he used to act before he started dating Fuji.

"Am I truly not close to your heart, Tezuka?"

For a moment Fuji tried to trail after Tezuka, but the thorns and needles lodged in his feet kept him from moving. Instead he stayed and watched Inui and Kaido interact. Leaning down a little timidly, the dark haired boy attempted to help his sempai collect his note books and loose leaf calculations. Inui had settled down quite a bit since ranting, and was telling his kohai they could practice together now. A tiny smile glanced across the tall regular's lips, almost unnoticeable if Fuji hadn't known him for so long. Azure orbs found themselves scrutinizing curiously the rectangular features, the evenly tended visage that used glass to hide emotions, the same way Fuji kept his eyes closed.

Wait… was Inui... looking at him? But for just a moment, Fuji thought he'd seen past the shine on Inui's glasses… but it couldn't be.

"Sempai," Kaido tapped the data man's shoulder with uncharacteristic timidness, "Is something the matter?"

Inui stood paused, as if waiting for some performance to being, before replying, "No, the wind is playing tricks."

The two of them then headed towards the tennis courts, with Fuji dawdling mournfully after them, his thoughts embedded with Tezuka.

He was so caught up watching Inui and day dreaming about Tezuka he didn't even notice the cool shadow tracing his every motion obsessively from behind.

A/N: cringe ""The formula is correct, or rather, it has been proven by their current play styles" So unscientific. If you know the scientific method, you'll understand why. . Sorry about those who had trouble following Inui! This comes from reading too many science/math/engineering text books. ;;

Inui's Explanation (in the author's words!): Think of how you 'remember' a person. You think of that person's name, and then everything about that person, his looks, his actions, his quirks... each quality that the person has is like a block. We remember millions of these blocks, from thousands of different people. In order to keep these blocks apart, we bundle them together. So the blocks are all bundled together, sorted by the person who they describe. When we want to access our memory of a set of blocks, we have to sort through several sets of blocks, each representing a different person. We label each person with a name. So we find that person's name, then we can access that set of blocks.

What Inui is saying is that if you are forced to forget that person's name, you won't be able to find any of that person's blocks. In other words, everything about that person will be forgotten as well. . . . So goes the author's theory, though it's based off something I read in my intro to psych course.

sniff Currently wishing I had better writing skills.

Thank you everyone for reviewing!

yamatoforever: '( yeah, poor Fuji... ;; this is an AU of supernatural magic... or maybe such magic is real... heeheehee. Hopefully things will e revealed soon.

Alaena F.D.: ; Over each chapter everything will slowly be explained. . . . if I can get my brain to actually write the rest. ; Fuji has a lot of enemies...

tezukaeiri: Sou ne... Tezuka no baka/ But I still love Tezuka, anyways.

BabyTears: . Poor Fuji will need even more hugs in the future...

CelicaChick: hehe, you will see! Fuji's a genius, but even tensai's can make mistakes, nee?

T.L.Y.Y: pat Hai, I will try to update regularly... will try... at least summer is almost here...

DnKS-giRLs: Yes, the teacher quized Eiji on The Odyssey... ; but Eiji never read the Odyssey like he was supposed to. And there was no Fuji to tell him the page number like usual '(

ToraMacaw: ; It's only Eiji who doesn't do his reading assignments! ... and a lot of other slackers, but there are lots of students like Fuji who actually like to read the classics. Well, Fuji is looking for someone to help lift the curse... and typically help comes from the most unexpected places...

WoLfePaWs: hehe, I hope I can keep the suspense up a little... even a little... ;;;

Please review! Reviews encourage fingers to move