Eiji the Cat

by Yoshikochan

DISCLAIMER: Actually, the fish are owned by my dad, so I don't even have that in common with Oishi.  No Oishi, no Eiji, no tenipuri boys belong to me.  *sob*

NOTES: Back to Eiji!  I feel like I identify much better with Eiji than with Oishi.  I've been getting comments that the Golden Pair seems to have switched roles: in some ways, this is true.  I think that deep down, Eiji is actually a very thoughtful person, so I wanted him to seem like a layered cake with seriousness at the bottom and bounciness on the top where everyone can see.   Oishi on the other hand worries greatly on the outside, but inside he is trusting and confident that those around him are happy.  He worries and thus takes care of things right away.  I wanted to portray an Oishi who was very understanding.  I don't think I've done a very good job, though.  ^^;; I hope things will be better in the future.

Have you ever been in love like this?  I have, this total infatuation with someone is really horrible.  You can't control anything about yourself!  You feel nervous because of course you want to look good in front of the person you like, but instead you just end up looking more stupid.  ~__~  Poor Eiji!  But no matter what Eiji does, of course he will still look cute! ^__^

*Buchou is Japanese for captain.  This is how the Regulars usually address Tezuka.

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Part 4: Dream

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        You took me inside your dream

        To a moon of cheese and cream

        To star light we ate till dawn

        I fell in love with you

--------------------------------  ~<3

Sadness, and a pining star.  Seigaku's one and only acrobatic styled player knotted his forehead in strained contemplation.  From the time he had spent with Oishi watching stars until now, he had pretty much been the same, except that a tiny tinge of heat seemed to glance over his heart every so often.  He was sure it hadn't been there before.  He kept thinking about it, and thinking about Oishi, that expression of childish glee he swore he'd seen through the dazzling star light.  The more he thought about it, the weirder he felt.

Weird.  Yup, that was it.  He was feeling weird.  It was kind of annoying.  On top of that, it was getting him into trouble.

"....eiji...."  

His mind failed to notice the whisper tickling his ear.

"....    EIJI!!"

"Nyaaaa!! .... Hoi?!"  He shot up in surprise and almost knocked heads with his leaned over smiling friend.  Fuji was cruel to sneak up on him then scream directly in his ear!  

"Eiji, you shouldn't space out like that."  On his other side came the concerned voice of the club's vice president.  Eiji looked up to see his partner's frown-adorned face, but in his mind's eye that face was replaced by the gleaming visage from before.

From the bottom of his gut, he felt the tinge of heat grow.  "Oh Oishi!  I wa-s...just...em...th..." What was wrong with him?!  Suddenly he felt really nervous, and his voice was trembling, and it came out sounding way, way too high!  "Th...that is...." Cold sweat began to pearl upon his upper lip. "Th-there," he pointed to the first thing he saw. "-baboon!!"  

Blank stares followed his out pointed figure, tracing the visual line to the scowling stone face of Seigaku's ever stoic captain.  Eiji gulped, his body frozen.  He had meant to say buchou, but somehow .... well, obviously that had come out wrong.

"40 laps.  Now."  The deep voice practically hissed.

"Haaaaiii!"  Eiji took off immediately, feeling a blush creep up around the edge of his face.  His eyes squinted closed in panic and frustration.  Running laps was better than facing Oishi right now, with the way he was, just babbling and embarrassing himself.  Why had he suddenly lost the ability to speak normally?  Now Oishi probably thought he was really weird!

Once he got the chance, he decided to consult his best friend about it.   That afternoon he could be found chatting with Fuji, whispering (but rather loudly) since they were in class.  "Moouuu, it's like, first I'm sad, then I'm angry because I don't want to be sad, then I feel nervous because I'm angry, and then I just end up making a fool out of myself!  And then I go back to being happy just because I can but then before I know it I'm sad again and then Fuji just what is wrong with me?!"

His best friend laughed, as if he knew the answers to the infinity of questions always asked about the universe.  "Oh Eiji, you're just pmsing!  Don't worry, it'll pass."

"PMSing?!  Like a girl?!  But that's what Mom always says that's what Nee-chan's doing when she dumps her boyfriend!  ...though they get back together again by the end of the week." 

The tensai smiled.  "Well, usually it's something that happens to a girl when her hormones change, but it's also a sign that you're falling in love."

"L-love?!"  Seriously?!  Like, love as in the love that was in his Mom's evening dramas?  Love as in the poems on those hallmark cards, that always rhymed nicely but didn't make any sense?  Love as in the boy from Titanic, who told that girl to never let go and then she did?  All sorts of images from various animated Disney movies flashed through is head.  What exactly did Fuji mean by love?

"Eiji, isn't it because you're in love with Oishi?"

The red-head suddenly hacked as if trying to cough up a hairball.  "P-p-p-" He didn't know what he was trying to say, but it wasn't like he could get past all the stuttering anyways.  He suddenly realized he was standing in the middle of the lecture.  "Please excuse me!"  he piped in a feeble attempt to pacify his teacher's diamond-hard stare which said sit down and shut up already.

That night found him tossing and turning.  Even when he squeezed his favorite teddy bear and kicked off his blankets, he still felt warm and uncomfortable.  He couldn't even think about what Fuji had been talking about before.  It didn't really make any sense - he wasn't very good at poetry and he had never given Oishi a rose before or anything like that.  So what was Fuji talking about?

Finally he managed to fall asleep.  But the restlessness followed even into his dreams.  

---~<3

"Nya?!"  

After waking up with a start, his covers flew forcefully up from his bed as his arms swung widely in panic, and a heavy thud could be heard downstairs as a body smacked unexpectedly onto the carpet.  If Eiji had been standing at the moment, he might have done a half flip.  

What was that?!  That    that    that    dream!

"Ei-chan, are you up?"  called his mother's voice from downstairs.  She must've been getting ready to leave for work.

There was no one to see he had fallen off the bed, but he pulled himself up quickly anyways, blushing furiously as he thought about last night.  Just what sort of dream was that?!  As he quickly replaced his sunshine yellow pjs with Seigaku's uniform he wondered desperately how he could face Oishi after such a thing.  He... and Oishi.... and Oishi had.... the blushing was almost unbearable!  Slowly he forced his breathing to even out and took deep gulps of air to calm down.    

Morning.  Seigaku.  Practice.  No matter what was going on, there was no way he'd miss practice for his favorite activity right?  All the regulars were like that.  So glompable, and so addicted to tennis.  

"Good morning!"  Fuji's voice.   

"Mornin'"  Momo's voice.   

"Che."  Echizen's murmur.

"Hey, good morning, Eiji."   Suddenly the whole world seemed to freeze in place.  This voice Eiji knew even better than the others.

He turned slowly, his neck cranking in bits like an old fashioned wooden doll.  Oishi's gentle eyes and smile fixed into place before him. 

"Good mor-  mor- mor-"  

The images from last night's dream flashed to the front of his brain.  His eyes sunk down towards the ground and he fixated on the nearest pebble.  

"....mornin' Oishi...."  He somehow managed to mutter.  His feet tottered off towards the locker rooms.  Something in the back of his mind whispered that his doubles partner was still there, walking next to him, but he definitely wasn't going to look up enough to check.  He could kind of tell by looking at different shoes where everyone was.  His arms and lips continued to tremble slightly, and the heat from his rapidly beating heart began to spread out to the rest of his body.  His face, he was sure, must have been growing close to the color of his hair.

He spent the whole practice like that.  Not that he could really play tennis while looking down, but he couldn't seem to quell his nervousness, even when twisting into his favorite positions and smacking the balls into the most unpredictable places around the court.  

Lunchtime was no better.  Just the thought of eating next to Oishi brought ravishing recollections of the two of them together, in his dream.... Kyaaa!  No no no, he mustn't think about it!  Rather than at the Golden Pair's usual meeting place on the roof, the redhead was seen stalking around the faucets, pacing back and forth the way a grumpy cat waited to be let inside.  

"Eiji!!  This is where you've been" - of course his faithful Oishi had gone to look for him - "I've been looking all over for you!  And today you've been acting really strange" - so he had noticed - "I was really worried.  You look really red," - anyone would be red in this kind of heat! - "Are you feeling alright?  Do you have a fever?"

All of a sudden, Eiji became aware of a concerned hand rising towards him, drawing closer and closer to his face at an alarming speed, almost brushing against the bangs that dangled loosely against his sweat-beaded forehead...

"Wait, Oish-   NYA!!"  Just as the back of Oishi's hand was about to reach it's target above the acrobat's eyes, both of Eiji's hands shot at in panic, shoving the surprised altruist backwards and into the nearest bush.

 "O-Oishi!"  What had he done?!  "I'm sor- sor- sor-" 

He gave up, and ran off crying.   Had he looked back, he would have seen his stunned tennis partner still sitting amidst the hedge's leaves and twigs, blinking rapidly and blankly.

Somehow, he lived through the rest of the lunch period, and continued crying with his head laid flat on top of Fuji's desk.

"Eiji,"  Fuji said with a twitching smile, unable to ignore their teacher's glares of get-him-to-shut-up-already, "I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong."  

"Fuuuuuji," Eiji meowed, seemingly oblivious to the various death sparks being sent at him from the front of the classroom, "I just can't face Oishi today!"  He tried to bury his face in the wood.  "This is your fault you know, because you said those things to me yesterday I had that weird dream and now every time I see Oishi I remember it and then I can't help but feel really really hot and even Momo said I was as red as a beet and I don't even like beets!"

The tennis tensai wanted very much to talk calmly with his best friend about his emotional struggles, but the glare daggers from an impatient history professor were making his eye brows tick.  Still, his smile stayed as gentle as ever.

"Eiji," he said in his most motherly tone (out of nowhere he came up with one), "We'll talk about this after class."

"Hoooii."  

It was a bit disconcerting for everyone to sit through the next two hours through classical history and logarithmic functions as well as muffled sniffs and sobs (which were loud despite being muffled), but a few flashes of cerulean stares managed to fend off any unnecessary comments.   No one messed with an open-eyed Fuji.

Finally the last bell sounded and the rest of class 6 scurried quickly off to the places they wanted to go.  

Fuji smiled anticipatively at his best friend, feeling that today as well he'd get to witness something cute.   "So Eiji, now-"

"I was a duck."

"...huh?"  

Eiji slowed down a bit to give his friend a few moments to process.

"Well... you see, in my dream, I was a duck."

Fuji frowned, but his eyes remained closed.  "A duck?"  

"Yes.   A blue duck."

"Um... I see.  ...So what does this have to do with Oishi?"

"Well, that's the thing.  I was a blue duck, swimming around in a lake.  I was just swimming around and then Oishi came over and... kissed me, and then I turned into a princess and then-"  he blushed, ducking down his head in embarrassment.  "well, we went up to the Moon Palace and ate choco crust raspberry swirl cheesecake together and lived happily ever after."

Silence.   Fuji's eyebrows had somehow begun to knot together.  "And so...what happened then?"

"Then?"  Now Eiji was inquisitive.  "I woke up, of course.  It was The End. .... ah, but I mean really Fuji, he ...Oishi, he kissed me!  Even if I was a duck, and I guess it's okay to kiss ducks because they're animals and pets are animals and it's okay to kiss pets, but it's just really embarrassing-"

"Pft, hahahahaha,"  Fuji let out a laugh that he had obviously been trying to hold.  "Eiji, that's nothing to be embarrassed about!  It's only a kiss.  I so sure that he would have *bleeeep* and then *bleeeeep* and then you know *bleeep*"  His blue eyes vanished into crescents as he smiled sweetly.

"Fu- ah- chi" Eiji knew his face must have reached the color of his hair this time, as the burning heat poured into his visage's skin and even spread down his neck and to the back of his ears.  Feeling like he'd catch on fire any second, he raced from the room, completely missing the surprised, raven-headed tennis player who stood just within the doorway.  

Eiji let the sink water pour into his hair and drench his skin and clothes.  He didn't really know what Fuji meant by all his bleeping, but it made him really embarrassed.  If it was something Fuji had thought of, then it was probably something ecchi.  The tensai never exhibited limits when it came to subjects for teasing.

Around him the noon air began to singe against his wet skin, stripping off the moisture and heat and leaving behind a placid sense of relief.  He sighed uncharacteristically, going over everything that had happened that day.  Oishi was probably worried as well.  He always worried about people, way more than was healthy, Eiji was sure.  He had come to know his doubles partner pretty well in the last three years.

Three years was a long time, especially considering how young he was, it was a pretty big portion of his life time.  When he had first met Oishi he thought he was a terribly serious person.  Or at least he seemed serious in comparison to Eiji, who was always jumping and diving and spinning without a care in the world.  Oishi was completely different - he cared about many things, maybe even everything, which seemed to be way way way too much.  But he was nice and though his worrying could get a little annoying at times he always had the best intentions.  Eiji had liked the way that he mothered after things, always watchful of the other regular's well-being, careful to make sure he never did something offensive or hurt someone's feelings.  That was why when they met at the cafe he had tried to act serious as well.  

But in reality, consideration was not one of Kikumaru Eiji's abilities.  Not that he liked to fail at things, but it wasn't very fun to act like someone other than himself.  Nyah, oh well.  He stuck his tongue out at the thoughts.  Oishi still hung out with him even when he stayed himself, so it didn't really matter anymore.  And now he knew that Oishi also had his weak sides, an affinity for playfulness, an occasional moment of aggression;  if he needed to, for the sake of his team and the people he cared about, Oishi could charge forward with absolute determination, displaying an extraordinary vigor in both tennis and life.

Somehow, Eiji knew that surely things would work out.  Sure they would!  This was Oishi, after all, that he was thinking about.  The most understanding, most wonderful person in all the world, or at least in his world, and that was all that mattered.  Suddenly he felt all energetic.  He still wasn't very confident that he could control himself around Oishi, but surely, surely, surely, things would be okay!  

He skipped back to the classroom, for the first time that day feeling an uplifting breeze, his eyes suddenly flooding with enthusiasm. 

. . .

All that was broken by the scene he saw when sliding the classroom door half open.  

The afternoon light splashed halos all around the classroom, gently warming the cultivated air that the room's only two occupants nestled in.  On the far side of the class room, the dark haired tennis player whom Eiji had for three years stood beside sat facing away from him in one of the desks, still as though captivated by the light haired angel which shimmered over him, soft honey brown locks falling graciously forward.  Meanwhile Fuji's left hand gently caressed the vice captain's few bangs, his neck and upper body craned over the one desktop that separated the two, meeting Oishi in what was surely a kiss beyond anything that could be given to a duck.

Before he knew it, Eiji had already shot down the hall way at full sprinting speed.  He couldn't believe it!  He understood that Fuji was very pretty and many people compared him to an angel but, Oishi x Fuji?!  It sounded like something only Trixie would try...and even then, she would probably fail.   He had only been kidding when he pretended he didn't know what love was!    

Even if it had been ice cold Tezuka it would have made more sense, since at least he and Oishi had been friends for the longest time and had gone through a lot together as freshman and were always hanging around each other to work on club matters and all. But Fuji?  His very best friend?!

Tears streamed down his face in waves.  Now he didn't have Oishi to run to, and he didn't even have Fuji.  He had almost reached the point where he realized he was all alone, but right then came crashing upon the third next person he would have gone to to whine-

"Ow!  Hey what are you-"

"Oochibi!"  He cried, wrapping the smaller frame into a tight bear hug.  "I *sob* wasth *sniffle* nthn *sob* waaaaaaaa" 

"E-Eiji...sem...pai... I..."

He squeezed harder, shaking the freshman as he sobbed, "Ochibi, ochibi, ochibi!  Oishi is...Fuji is...waaaaaaaaa"

"...can't....breath..."  Bellow him, Echizen was struggling unsuccessfully against his grip, and he seemed to be chocking on something.   Eiji ignored it, and clamped harder.

"...bun...trid....*sob*...speak normlf..nyaeae"  He cried like a cat caught outside in the rain.

"...ugh...Ei..." Echizen seemed to shudder almost, then his body just sort of... collapsed, onto the school tile.

"Nya?  . . . Ochibi?"  Eiji frowned, and the tears (which weren't very serious anyways), stopped abruptly.

Seigaku's youngest regular lay plopped face down on the ground, dead.

. . .

Okay, not dead, but Eiji had to carry him piggy back to the nurse's office as an apology.

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Note: Yay!  I got to say that the Regulars are glompable!  ^__^V  Earlier I was referring to Trixie's fanfiction, "Still Waters", in which Fuji tries to seduce Oishi and fails (maybe on purpose). 

Ah... what was with the ending?  I don't know either.  Poor Ryoma, I guess I just like to see Eiji picking on him.   I tried to make the scene in the classroom absurdly flowery (in language) since Eiji is seeing things with sparklies all around. Ie he's completely misinterpreting the moment. ^^;;