A/N: Hi guys! I was rereading my own work to go over any plot holes or discontinuities and I realized that, in between all my writing, I switch between names. For example, I used both Ootori and Chotarou, or Mukahi and Gakuto, at different times. I have, for the most part, fixed this in future chapters.

Please forgive me for this mistake!

Other than that minor thing (I really hope this doesn't take away from your reading experience), please enjoy!

And feel free to point out any mistakes or ask if there are any questions. I'm always open to opinions/critiques, etc., etc. :)

Hitomi's school uniform covered any and all signs of the night before, but it didn't stop any of the regulars from noticing that she was silently enduring pain. Her shoulder must have been hurting, but it looked as if her stomach held the brunt of her agony.

Hitomi was somehow managing to play off the injury throughout the day, to the point where it was hard to even notice anything specifically out of character. Only Atobe could see what she was enduring. After all, his Insight was what helped him understand how other people worked; their well beings included.

What Atobe couldn't understand was why Hitomi acted like she did, and why he was so annoyed by it. He guessed it was because only he could read her.

It was amusing to Atobe, really, when he first found out that he could read Hitomi like a book. When only Atobe noticed something about her, it made him oddly ecstatic because he felt like he was reading a secret passage in a novel, a page that everyone was oblivious to except for him. Every action she took, every way she acted he could see right through it and tell exactly what she felt about the situation.

He'd noticed that:

a) When Hitomi laughed or even giggled too much she was hiding something.

And Atobe absolutely hated when people hid things from him. He thought of it as a condescending gesture.

b) She had a small twitch in her smile that she developed over time, when she refused help she needed and/or wanted.

There were plenty of opportunities that the team had offered help to Hitomi, whether it be school help or actual life experience. The girl was adamant about doing things herself.

c) If she had impeccable leadership skills and talent, with the leadership being based off of Atobe, she shouldn't hide it.

This one Atobe thought out of pure amusement. Why would anyone want to hide something that brings them closer to ore-sama? He had no idea.

and last but not least d) she was a great actress, but under normal circumstances, Hitomi would much rather express her opinion as plain and blunt as she could.

And that one Atobe had known since he first entered Hyotei, the first day he'd gotten there and won against his supposed senpai. He remembered because for one thing: she'd called him cliché, and for another: she had called him ugly.

It was rather pleasing for him when he saw she wanted ore-sama's affection, but as their second year passed Hitomi had suddenly turned away. Atobe didn't mind; he had tennis to worry about, and that damned Tezuka.

Recently though, Hitomi's life had suddenly turned into a horror book. And each page was suddenly filled with a growing sense of doubt that ultimately turned into fear.

It was when she was scared that he would mind. Because, no matter how close Oshitari prided himself on being to Hitomi, it seemed that only Atobe could see how scared she truly was.

When Kenji and Otto had come, he saw that she was scared to death. She wasn't even scared for her own well being- she was scared for her friends. Atobe had seen how she controlled herself to be calm when picking up the thick script, he had seen how calm she seemed after stopping Otto in his tracks, but he had also seen that one flash of panic in her eyes that truly bugged him.

How could someone so strong think that they were so vulnerable?

"Hitomi." The teacher called out.

Weary eyes traveled from her script, hidden under the sleeve of a textbook and towards the sensei. Her reply was monotonous.

"Hai?"

"Answer the question."

"I don't remember it."

She truly wasn't interested in the moment, and the fact that she honestly didn't care just scared most people in the classroom. Even Jirou was creeped out.

"Hitomi-chan seems out of it," He later informed his friends at the lunch table, "Today in class she refused to pay attention to anything."

"Che, figures. Where is she now?" Shishido asked.

"Uh... Last I saw she was talking to sensei. Sensei said she would call Hitomi-chan's father."

At that Oshitari perked up, "But there was no call, was there?"

"Ie, I don't think so." Jirou shrugged, and happily ate his lunch without another disturbance.

But Oshitari looked from his table with the Hyotei regulars over to where Hitomi was seated. She was far from lonely, being sat not too far from them and with a laughing group of third years also, but her down mood was noticeable.

She cringed slightly when Gakuto poked her side, he wanted to avoid the shoulder since he had seen how painful it looked.

"How ya feeling, Hitomi-chan?"

She nodded, "Good."

"...You sure?"

Her response was not Hitomi-like at all, but when she realized that she smiled gracefully and laughed.

"I'm fine, you jumping baboon. I didn't get much sleep last night because of a project, did you?"

Gakuto noticed her change immediately but felt better at the lightened mood.

"Yeah, yeah whatever. Sit with us if you want to, kay? Jirou woke up cause of you."

"And we know something's wrong when Jirou wakes up so..." Hitomi rolled her eyes with another smile and a giggle.

She left her own friends with a small excuse me and followed Gakuto to the table of tennis players. She giggled again when she saw Jirou sleepily eating the last bit of strawberry cake.

"So, Jirou, I heard I woke you up." She laughed.

She took the last bit of cake before Jirou could eat it, waking up the third year when he realized that nothing was left.

"Hitomi-chan!" He cried out, pouting, "Why couldn't you just get some from over there?"

The girl laughed again and sat down, making sure that everything seemed like it was alright. That is, until Oshitari pointed out her facade.

"Last night took quite a toll on you." He said.

Hitomi tensed just the slightest, but reacted with a charming smile and a smart reply.

"I've handled things better, but I've also handled things worse. So if that was all you were worried about I'll go back to my other friends."

"Che, super lame. And here we were actually trying to be nice to you." Shishido muttered.

Hitomi left with a roll of her eyes and a laugh, and if they hadn't known any better they would've assumed that Hitomi was just sleepy. She was that good of an actress. Even when her friends pat her on the shoulder in question she acted like nothing was wrong, and if one looked closely (or had the eyesight of ore-sama himself) they would notice a pink spot beginning to form. Blood.

Atobe smirked ruefully, Hitomi was not one to show weakness. It was a quality that Atobe thought came from the strongest; a quality that he personally admired.

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters/plot/etc., of the PoT manga/anime.