Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction ❯ "Catch Me When I Fall" ❯ Chapter 4

Summary: One wrong turn can change you life forever

Disclaimer: Tennis no Ohjisama, characters and settings are the property of Konomi Takeshi.

Date Started: June 7, 2004

Status: complete

Revised:

Word Count: 2158

"Catch Me When I Fall" Part 4 by Andrea Readwolf

Three days prior to when he was scheduled to leave, a man in a white lab coat strolled into his hospital room and picked up his charts, flipping through them as if he had every right in the world to do so. Eiji didn't try and stop the other person (really, what *could* he have done, considering he was still laid up rather annoyingly to the bed), just watched with amusement as the other nodded and mumbled several things to himself before taking out a notebook and scribbling whatever relevant information he had found.

"Would it be silly of me to ask if you've already developed a special menu for me, Inui-kun?"

The other young man smiled back at him, readjusting his glasses. "Am I to assume you're actually looking *forward* to one of my special drinks, Eiji?"

"I'm looking forward to getting back on all four limbs and out of this bed," the redhead replied flippantly. "Even if it means poisoning myself on that foul stuff you used to make us drink. So come on, spill it. I *know* you must have something down right evil but positively beneficial in store for me. Don't try to bluff me."

Inui Sadaharu laughed, a soft but deep chuckle of amusement. "I do, I do, but be a little more patient, Eiji. I will need to consort with your doctors, of course, before anything can be implemented."

Eiji sighed resignedly. Well, he'd asked for it... "I take it you already know where we're going?"

"Mmm. It's a good facility. Excellent reviews and results."

The redhead chuckled. "That's our Inui."

There was a moment of silence... one of those uncomfortable ones where neither person is really quite sure what to say. Inui and Eiji had been teammates for six years, but they were never really *friends*... friendly, yes, but... there was a difference.

"How are you doing, Eiji? Really?"

He tried to shrug away the seriousness of the question, but of course, the cast still encasing his neck, upper chest, and left shoulder pretty much prevented it. "Oh, you know--confined to a bed with nothing good on TV and the inability to...pretty do anything. So, I'm doing pretty crappy right now, but, hey! It'll get better soon, right?"

"Definitely. If it's you, Eiji, then there's almost a one hundred percent chance," the other boy smiled.

~~~****~~~

Oishi and their parents were finishing up packing away the rest of their belongings. Sorting through their apartment and separating items that the boys would be bringing with them to the New Horizons Rehabilitation Center from what would be placed in storage in either Eiji's parents' house or Oishi's.

That left Eiji back in his hospital room, devoid of their company and utterly bored.

Generally, there were a million things Eiji could and would do when he was bored... but these weren't normal conditions. He wasn't normally strapped to a hospital bed because his body refused to listen to his commands. He wasn't normally forced to lie there and do nothing while other bones set and healed. He wasn't normally going to be moving across the country in a couple of days to live for how-over long it would take to regain control of his trunk and limbs....

Eiji hated being bored, because it gave him way too much time to think. Without someone or something to distract him it was hard to turn his mind off... and...that was a dangerous thing.

It was funny how hard it could be, to hide from yourself, your doubts and fears...where there was no one to hide behind. When Eiji cried... it was a soft thing, more due to the fact that he really hated crying, with tears leaking from blue eyes he was helpless to remove or dry...

It was hard... it was so hard...

When others were around, it was a lot easier to act as if everything was going to be okay--sure it sucked that he was here right now instead of out and about somewhere, getting into mischief, maybe attending on of the classes he'd been forced to drop, but it was okay, 'cause he was going to be okay. Next week--well, okay, maybe not *next* week, but the week after that, and the week after that... and pretty soon he would be all better and back on the courts again and...

And when he was alone, he.... he couldn't. He couldn't seem to ignore the "What if's."

What if it never got better? What if he never regained enough coordination to return to the tennis courts? What if he was forced to live out the rest of his life in a wheelchair? What if... what if Syuichiroh decided he *couldn't* cope with a handicapped boyfriend anymore?

Yeah, maybe the last one was a very long shot, but... sometimes, it was possible... Just because you loved somebody didn't mean it always worked out between you forever. And maybe it was selfish of him, but Eiji was pretty sure that he could deal with the rest--never getting back on a tennis court competitively, being forced to live in a wheelchair, doing *something* with his life--but he just couldn't imagine a life without Syuichiroh.

Even as Eiji struggled to dig himself out of his personal pit of misery that he'd managed to avoid for nearly two months, his excellent senses detected the sound of the door opening and closing again. It was too soon for his vitals checks, and who ever it was just stood near his bed and watched him. Didn't try to console him or wipe away his tears.

Eiji didn't want to look at whoever it was. "I'm not exactly in the mood for company right now," he greeted instead, voice throaty with phlegm.

"You look like shit."

He could help the little laugh that blunt comeback created. "Why thank you, Chibi," he croaked, peeking an eye open to look at his... friend?

"So I hear you're getting ready to move, eh?" the younger man perched himself down on the arm of the armchair, fiddling nervously with his cap. "Seems like a lot of people are picking up and moving..."

"Mmm?"

Echizen Ryoma just leaned back into the armrest, butt sliding down into the seat in what looked like a completely ungainly and yet comfortable lounge. "I guess you haven't heard the latest gossip, then?" he asked with a grin.

"Hoi? Tell me, tell me," Eiji demanded after clearing his throat.

"Gakuto and Yuushi broke up."

Eiji blinked. "You mean..."

Ryoma nodded. "No longer together, on the courts or off. Apparently, after your accident, Mukahi was getting a little crazy on the courts, and Oshitari wanted his partner to curb some of his stunts."

"That's..."

"Pretty insane, huh?" Ryoma nodded, watching him carefully. "Also, well, the year's almost up. I'll be leaving for America once this term's over."

"America?!" Eiji double blinked.

"Mmm. I promised Takeshi I'd stay for one year, at least, before hitting the professional circuit," Ryoma continued conversationally. "Now that the year's up, and his sister's starting her junior year, he's going to move back in with his dad and try and help with his baby brother."

Eiji sighed. "Everything's changing, isn't it, chibi-chan?"

Ryoma smiled. "It always does, Eiji-senpai." He stood up and leaned onto the bed railings. "But you know what? Some things will always be the same, no matter what." He reached out a tentative hand to wipe away some of the tear stains still lining Eiji's face.

"Oishi's not made of glass," he continued after a moment. "Don't treat him like it. You don't need to pretend to be strong for him...or us; we won't break because of one or two scrapes. We're stronger than that. Oishi's stronger than that. If you're scared or frightened, then you should tell him, so you can deal with it plainly."

Eiji's breath was shaky. "Eh, Ochibi-chan, when'd you get so smart?"

The younger man shot his friend a cheeky grin. "I have smart senpai."

~~~****~~~

It was almost time.

In a couple of hours a special van would arrive from New Horizons to pick Eiji up. Oishi had already driven up earlier that morning with their parents to help unpack their belongings. It wasn't a bad drive from Tokyo--two, maybe three hours.

But... Eiji was loath to be alone for even that amount of time. Especially since he and Syuichiroh were so far separated by distance right now. He wanted Syuichiroh to be there with him, right now, his hand in Eiji's, his fingers playing in Eiji's hair...

They'd... talked, two days prior.

They'd talked about a great many things. They'd talked about them--as the unit they'd always been, as the individuals they were, how things had changed between them and around them, and how they should/could/would try to deal with those changes.

Eiji had been dumbfounded when Syuichiroh confessed he was worried that the redhead wouldn't need him in light of all the doctors and nurses and specially trained staff that would practically doting on him all the time at the center. Syuichiroh had been likewise surprised when Eiji told him his fears about the other boy leaving him...

In some ways, it was kind of fun--thrilling, even, maybe a little--to realize they could still turn around and surprise their partner with their idiocies.

"S'chiroh no baka... I'll always need you," he whispered, pressing a kiss into the hand that was oh so gently stroking his face.

"Eiji no baka..." the other boy had answered, sliding his hand back into Eiji's hair and leaning forward to brush his lips over Eiji's. "I'll always need you, too."

"Ne, are you awake or sleeping?" asked a rather obnoxious voice--obnoxious, bratty, sullen, but generally well liked.

Still, Eiji was surprised the other had shown up at all. "You've got a lot of nerve showing up here," he replied, peeking an eye open. "Two months and not a visit? Hell, not even a bloody card... is that anyway to treat your rival, Mukahi?"

The other redhead wasn't looking at him at all; in fact, Gakuto seemed rather fascinated with the floor tiles. Finally the other huffed out a "Sorry," forcing himself to look up at Eiji.

His blue eyes were red-rimmed, his color pale; he looked like he'd lost a lot of weight recently--and Gakuto really couldn't *afford* to lose weight... Eiji said the first thing he thought.

"You look like shit."

"Yeah, well, you don't look so hot yourself," the other redhead snapped back before blanching. "I--sorry... I shouldn't have..."

"Why not?" Eiji forced a grin to his face. "It's the truth, ain't it?"

Gakuto's shoulders slumped that little bit that said the tension was slowly draining away, and Eiji sighed. The other boy had a bad habit of getting very...volatile when stressed, and without Yuushi nearby to 'control' him, well... it wasn't that Eiji was worried about himself, but rather, the other boy.

"What happened?" he asked and let the other boy decide how to answer.

Of course, it really didn't take a genius to guess what was on both their minds, did it?

"We had... a difference of opinions," Gakuto answered, still hovering near the doorway and looking back at the floor tiles again. "He wanted me to clip my wings... I didn't want to." He looked up, as if to dare Eiji to say he was wrong.

But how could he when he was in perfect agreement with the other redhead. "Nothing can stop me from flying...not even falling," Eiji replied. "And we all fall sometimes, don't we?"

Gakuto didn't seem to have any words for that... didn't seem to have any patients left for this impromptu meeting as he turned to leave without another word. But Eiji stopped him before he could leave.

"Ne, Gakuto? Don't let it go for too long. We still have a match to finish, don't forget, and we *will* be back to finish it."

The dark-haired redhead shot a disbelieving look over his shoulder before he snorted and looked away again. "So, then... things are.... 'okay' between you two?" he had to ask.

Eiji smiled.

"Ah... We all fall down sometimes, Gakuto-kun... the difference is---who's there to catch you. Syuichiroh will always be there to catch me when I fall, and me for him... but, have you tried catching Oshitari?"

The stunned look on the other boy's face--even from the weird angel Eiji was able to view it from--told him enough.

"You better go," he whispered encouragingly...but the other redhead was already gone.

Eiji smiled. It didn't matter that he now had to wait another five hours before he could see his Syuichiroh again, because they would be together again, and... just like he'd told Gakuto:

They'd always be there to catch each other when they fell.

~~OWARIMASU~~

Author's Notes: Now wasn't that just angst-sweet? Mmhmm... okay, there should be a bit of a sequel to this one, "New Horizons", but I'm going to start writing "OZ" first, so Nya!!! :-P