Eiji the Cat

by Yoshikochan

DISCLAIMER:  My favorite prince of tennis plushie is Fuji wearing a white bear costume that Rasuberi gave me for Christmas.  Wait, whadya mean this isn't the place to talk about plushies?!  But this is the disclaimer...

NOTES:  Okay, this fic doesn't follow any timelines!  Screw timelines! grrrrrr

Again, broken up POVs.  Um, I think I slip in some different people's POV's besides Oishi's and Eiji's, but those parts are pretty small. This chapter is really long, sorry!  ... or maybe sorry for not making the chapters long enough up till now. ^^;;

Echizen sometimes refers to Eiji as Eiji-sempai in the anime.  Sempai is a term for 'upper classman'.  Echizen usually address all the older regulars with this term, but in such a sarcastic way he almost seems to be looking down on them.  ^^; Well, Echizen is like that.  Kohai is 'lower classman'.  

Mm and Un are both positive replies.

Flashbacks are in italics.  *needs to stop putting everything in italics* ^^;;

---

Part 6: Share

-----------------------------------

        You, you're so cute

        Love you

        And I'll share my pillow too

        With you never blue

       Forgive everything you do

--------------------------------  ~<3

Even though it had been nearly twenty minutes since he left the Kikumaru home, his right fist was still slightly shaking.   Trying to vent the anger into the suddenly too-warm air, he took large, gasping breaths with speed that accompanied his loudly pounding heart.  Everything seemed too hot and too noisy.

He had left - just like that, without resolving anything, without learning anything, without showing Eiji the strawberries he'd bought.  Crap, he thought, just now realizing he'd left them there, but it didn't really matter since he wouldn't have eaten them by himself anyways. 

Maybe he had understood the acrobatic player all wrong?  He had come to see the red head as being like a free bird, able to fly and escape anything.  But perhaps that was totally wrong.  Perhaps in fact, Eiji was just a normal fourteen year old boy.  Normal.

Normal?  Of course he was normal!  Oishi felt shocked that he had been thinking otherwise.  This whole time, casting a shell around his partner as an energetic, carefree alley cat when in fact Eiji worried and had sorrows and difficulties just like anyone else.  He just didn't get caught up in them the way most people did, the way Oishi too often did.  Eiji had his problems, but he dealt with them by remaining cheerful.  

Why hadn't he realized it sooner?   Why had he assumed a blushing Eiji meant a sick Eiji?  What feelings of the redhead had he so ignorantly trampled on that had caused his partner to scream-

"Oishi!"

Shot out from his thoughts, he glanced up from the ground he hadn't realized he'd been staring up, to see a pair of worried cerulean eyes looking back to him.  Behind the tennis tensai, a taller studier brunette with a usually stoic countenance also seemed uncharacteristically concerned, the captain's mouth having dropped open a little.  A vague thought of, 'how'd I run into them', mixed in with all the other muddled ones.

"Oishi, what's wrong?!"  Fuji's voice sounded unusually high.

"Eh?"

"Why are you crying?"

". . . eh?"  

As his hand drew curiously towards the edge of his cheek, the tips of his fingers encountered a hot, foreign moisture streaming from . . . from his eyes.   Suddenly, the tears and his mind entered reality hand in hand, and despite the two spread out palms he used to try to cover his face, the crying didn't stop.  He stood beneath the pale afternoon sky and wept.

---

"Eiji-sempai, I'm happy you called me over to play tennis," said a tall, spiky haired boy; but the twitch in his half-lidded purple eyes showed something other than happiness - "but what are they doing here as well?!"  He beckoned to the other side of the street tennis court, where two figures loomed with equal anticipation.  

"Oh, Momo!" The bouncy redhead came up cheerfully besides the sturdy youth.  "Thanks for coming!"  His eyes followed his kohai's motion towards the opposing youths, one who seemed to return the look through shimmering dubious glasses, and one who simply hissed and bent even closer to the ground.  "Yay, Kaido and Inui came too!"

"Well, you're the one who called us..." mumbled the data tennis player, scribbling rapidly in that abominable notebook as usual.  But he seemed distracted by something else.

"What's this all about, Sempai?" came the deep, rough voice of the bent-over player, his green bandana seeming a little ruffled for some reason.  

"Hoi hoi!"  Eiji beamed mischievously, though he really wasn't planning anything.  He gave a good pause to see if he could rouse up any more panic from the younger players, then proclaimed, "Let's play a match!  Me and Momo against Inui and Kaido!"  

"Hoooo," smirking interest smuggled into Momo's voice, "Well, I don't know what the occasion is, but I guess it can't hurt to give that baka-mamushi another creaming-"

"Who's gonna get creamed?!" The bandana youth hissed, "Inui-sempai, let's show this pineapple-head idiot how to play tennis."

(A/N: -__-;; such a pathetic taunt...)

"Un."  The tall spectacled youth had been unusually lacking in comments.  

(A/N: waaa! I don't play tennis ^^;; what now?!   ... sorry for massacring the sport)

Game start.  "Kikumaru-Momoshiro pair, to serve!"  

Soon the tennis ball had taken flight, darting back and forth across the court, both sides filled with the overpowering spirits that made them Seigaku regulars.  15-love, 15-all, 40-15, then Kaido went in for the kill, his boomerang snake sneaking rapidly around the left pole, only to be thwarted by a well-placed jack knife.

"Oh!  Nice play Momo!"  Overflowing with eagerness, the redhead also began to take out playful yet lethal shots, leaping up over two meters into the air to catch a seemingly impossible volley courtesy of the data-reliant opponent. 

It was one of Inui's relatively few attacks, the spectacled man unusually temperate in today's play.  He'd been mumbling to himself for a while, eyebrows crinkled into a V, leaving his irritable partner dashing wildly about the court to cover most of the balls.  

On the other hand, Eiji felt better than he had for the last week.  His body was extraordinarily light today, allowing him to make all sorts of jumps and bends.  Air flowed tightly against his face, rippling back his hair and clothing, as he caught another of Kaido's looming snake shots with his bent back hand.  He didn't know why, but he didn't feel the least bit tired.

"Game, Eiji and Momo!  4 games to 3.  Change court!"   (A/N: who's refereeing?)

Practically skipping to the other side of the court, Eiji felt his underclassman's purple eyes boring curiously into him.  Normally a mischievous twinkle would enter into his eyes, but he gave up on the usual torture and asked:

"Hey Momo, have you ever seen Oishi look.... not worried?"

Momo frowned, obviously caught off guard; he had been wondering why the acrobat had not called for his usual doubles partner but the question wasn't giving anything away. 

"Well of course I've seen Oishi-sempai not look worried.  One can't worry all the time, one can't.  ...I mean, there was the time when....um..."  Wrinkles began to crease across his forehead.  "The time when...."  Soon a giant sweatdrop hung like an ornament against his cheek.  "Well, even if I can't remember a time, I'm sure there is one.  Ask Inui." 

Eiji smiled.  Yes, there was a time.  That time, I definitely saw it.  The worried Oishi, the smiling Oishi, the gentle Oishi, the fervent Oishi - Eiji had seen so many sides of his doubles partner, and had shared in those experiences with the team in their triumphs and defeats.  But the innocent, jubilant Oishi he had seen that one night, under the stars... he could never forget it.  The Oishi that only he knew.  

And he had yelled at Oishi, and said horribly cruel things.  

Yet the thoughts didn't distract him.  Actually, his body seemed to get even more flexible (if that was possible) as he gave a sudden dash then was up in the air with a devastating Kikumaru beam.  Inui managed to predict this one, but couldn't seem to catch the right angle as soon his side was crushed by Momo's most powerful form of Dunk Smash.  

"Sorry Kaido," he managed to say through somewhat heavy breathing.  "The data today was 4% less accurate, with an increased error margin of almost 6%.  Today's Golden Pair has been...."  He tried to think of a more scientific word, but it didn't come.  "...strange.  And with Oishi not present, Eiji's performance should have dropped by 18%, but instead has remained at peak-form levels."

His snake-like partner only hissed incredulously, tiny black pupils examining the data man but remaining without comment.  

"Hm.... perhaps it is that."   

A melodramatic pause followed Inui's suspicious emphasis.

"Inui-sempai..." The second year's curiosity overcame his inner voice's warning, his lips pushing out into their usual pucker.  "What is 'that'?"

An eerie smile shaped like a lingering crescent moon glowed on his sempai's suddenly darkened face, and a suspicious glint flew off from those rectangular glasses.  "Remind me to show you sometime."

Slightly shivering, Kaido made a mental note: always listen to inner voice.

The game continued, with Inui's speed serves helping to make somewhat of a comeback.   Kaido's indefatigable snake shots sent his spiky haired rival waltzing clumsily around the court, but Eiji's superior experience allowed him to be a considerable support.

Eventually the winner was clear, with Momo-Eiji pair (full names had pretty much been ignored after the initial announcement) winning 7 games to 5.  A panting Momo and Kaido fell back against the hard cement, both sweating tremendously, though more energy had been wasted on exchanged insults than racket swings.  Even Inui found himself leaned over, resting his hands on his partially bent knees and breathing roughly.  

Eiji, on the other hand, stood to the side looking thoughtful, with one hand on his hip and the other fingering his chin, energy apparently  untouched.

"...Eiji..*pant*...sempai...why ..*pant*.. are you ..*pant* ..the only one.. *cough* ..not tired?"

But the acrobatic player didn't answer, nor even indicate that the question had registered.  He just slung his racket-packed bag back over his shoulder and began to walk off, though his underclassman thought he heard the words, "Yup, it's not Oishi."

---

"It's about Eiji, right?"

"Huh?" 

He had cried for nearly twenty minutes, but the two had waited patiently before him.  They somehow knew that words weren't the always best medicine; Oishi just needed to let it all out.  Finally the flow of hot stars had drizzled away and left an empty grail of calm at the bottom of his chest.   

Fuji smiled warmly.  "Don't worry too much about it.  Eiji's just PMSing right now."

Tezuka chortled, rolling his eyes coldly.  "Boys can't PMS."

"Yes they can!"

"No, they can't."  His tone implied, end-of-story.

" ... you do all the time."

"Fuji!!"

The tensai laughed teasingly and peaked open his eyes.  "Did we cheer you up a little?"

"Eh." Oishi felt relief wash through him.  He hadn't meant to laugh, but the small interaction had brought out a tiny chuckle.

"Well, like I said, don't worry about Eiji, he'll be fine."  His finger playfully poked at stoic captain's glasses.  "Now Tezuka and I shall continue on our D a t e"  - an iron glare tried to burn through those glasses, but lost some of it's effectiveness due to the blush that came with it- "and I suggest you head home.  I'm sure you'll be wanted there soon."

Oishi would have puzzled over this, if he wasn't so busy feeling amused at the not-so-Freudian slip the tensai was obviously not supposed to give out.  Though he guessed from the racket bags slung over eachs backs the 'D a t e' was actually just a trip to the train-side court.  He knew the two would only play against each other in private, away from the prying eyes at school and especially a certain green notebook. 

After a tiny wave good bye, he turned back sighing to his own thoughts.  He hadn't even realized how much anger he still had to let out, but now he felt considerably calmer.

The sky began to split into its dying colors, cooing fuchsias and magentas striking out across a few scattered clouds.  To the east stars had already begun to take their places, ready to fulfill their ancient roles as guide to sailors and travelers alike.  Yet the modern world had replaced their purpose with its satellites and cell phones and mapquest.  Still, Oishi felt that today's technology had done nothing to help guide feelings.  Despite mankind's thousands of years of existence, nothing that had been manufactured could outdo the tiny twinklets when it came to guiding the human heart.

Walking on the evening's path, between the western setting sun and the eastern rising stars, he felt like he was going somewhere he needed to be, yet he was going nowhere in particular.

Then all of a sudden his reverie broke as he clashed with another heavy body, knocking the other traveler roughly to the ground.

"Ouch!"  A familiar young voice cried, full of indignance.  

"Echizen!"  Oishi cried in surprise, "I'm so sorry!"  He seemed to be running into everyone today (this time quite literally).

"Watch where you're going!" Angry golden eyes leered warily at him, but those tiny puffed up cheeks made him look more like a chipmunk.  Oishi felt guilty for not feeling guilty but instead feeling amused.

"Sorry, sorry Echizen, I wasn't paying attention."

His kohai gave him a look of 'well duh' then accepted the outstretched hand that helped pull him up.

"Really, it was an accident.  ... I was thinking about something, I'm sorry..."

"Che.  Stop apologizing, it's annoying," the boy snapped.

"O-okay."

He thought he heard a mumbled, '...at this rate, one or the other's gonna kill me...'

"O-oh yeah!  I heard in school you fainted, are you alright?"

An increasingly irritated glare stated 'don't ask'.  Then the freshman replied, "You look in worse shape then me, sempai."

"A .. oh."  His curled index finger rubbed at his upper cheeks embarrassingly, realizing how red and puffed up they must have looked.  

He recalled that he had been crying, and in front of his captain no less.  That had been about... oh yeah, he had noticed that Eiji was normal.  It seemed... stupid to think otherwise now - after all, weren't most people normal?  He'd already known the redhead was no saint, nor was he some mentally twisted criminal, which kind of left him in the middle with everyone else - normal.  

"So- sorry."  He brushed away the trace of tears he realized had appeared.  "I just... suddenly realized that Eiji was human.  ...I mean..."

"Pft.  Of course Eiji-sempai's human.  What did you think he was, a cat?"

"Of course not, I-"  Wait a second.  Maybe he really had thought Eiji was a cat.  The way his mouth molded into an O of surprise or a V of unhappiness, the way his eyes would slit mischievously when pouncing on a chance to tease his kohai, the way he leaped around the court and always landed on his feet, all had always seemed to perfectly mimic a cat from Oishi's point of view.   But even so, Eiji was still human.  Human.  Oishi drilled the word into his brain.

"I guess . . . If Eiji was a cat, he'd be a stray."  He'd do as he please, nap as he'd please, eat as he'd please, go wherever he wanted to.

"Hmph, mada mada dane.  If Eiji was a cat, you'd be his owner."

Startled by the freshman's starkness, Oishi took a tiny step back.  "O-oh."  Heat rose mockingly into his cheeks.  "Well... I guess I do try to look after him.  But I've never been very good with pets.  I mean, I can handle fish, they're easy to feed and I just have to clean the tank once in a while, but with a cat I'd always have to be attentive and pet him and make sure he doesn't claw up the furniture-"  What was he rambling about?  But for some reason he felt stuttery and nervous, and it made him talk fast without thinking.  Even his heartbeat seemed to notch up its pace.

(A/N: Oh no, it's got Oishi too! ^__^)

"Geez Sempai, you worry too much, and sometimes over the wrong things."

Oishi frowned.  The wrong things.  He could see the logic in that.  In certain ways, his worrying was somewhat superficial.  When it came to mundane things, like being injured in tennis, or getting lost during a hiking trip, he was typically very precautious.  His personality naturally required him to be considerate of other people's feelings and property.  Don't cuss, don't be selfish, don't shoot boba at cars - his practical compliance to social regulations was part of what helped him nurture his reputation as the mother of Seigaku.  His concerns were mostly what had been taught at the rudimentary level, about being nice to others and sharing.  

A deep sigh drifted away with the wind.  He couldn't change his personality, just as he couldn't change the feelings of adoration he held for his partner.  Yet despite those feelings, he completely misinterpreted everything about the one he claimed to love so much.  A heavy misery settled painfully over his nerves.

"Eiji was right to say I didn't understand anything.  I wonder... " if I still have the right to be next to him.

"Hm..." Echizen's lips curled into the smirk his teammates had struggled to grow accustom to and that his opponents loathed.  He was inwardly pleased with himself, not that he'd show it.  Seigaku's oh-so-tender mother was unexpectedly lacking in the understanding love department, while the youngest regular had cups of bitter medicine to supply.  

"Isn't everything up to now just fine?   It's not like we're really divided into the id, ego, and super ego, you know, that's just a stupid theory."  He shrugged.  "Besides, it's not like the Eiji you're used to isn't the real Eiji, right?  Sempai's just like that naturally."  An amused smirk sparked out across his face.  "He's too crappy of an actor to only pretend he's cheerful.  I mean, everything you already know about him, that's still all Eiji right?"

The youngster snorted, then turned with a shrug and walked away.  Giving one last wave, he called, "But if you want to feel miserable, then it doesn't matter to me.  Jya."

Oishi watched him go, wondering if it was really okay to bloat the freshman's ego by letting him have the last word.  Well, it probably couldn't get any bigger.  But he felt a little better, like he'd been given a hard pinch to ward off a headache.

Self-pity.  The innate gnawing monster.  Surely he hadn't been caught by that.  But if things didn't change, than maybe... 

But he didn't know what to do.  He'd never fought with anyone the way he had today with Eiji.  With no past experiences to rely on, and no script called What To Do In Life, all he could do was helplessly sink into a cocooning depression.

---

Eiji wasn't sure why he'd gone to play tennis.  At first, he'd sat immovable on his bedroom's carpet, still slightly infuriated, but at the same time feeling stunned by the site of all the crushed strawberries.  A small voice that sounded leerily like Oishi's told him he needed to hurry and clean them up before they left stains.

Then, all his feelings just sort of melted into this... calm.  Like all his nerves had reached a maximum and then burnt out.  He couldn't think of what he needed to do, and in the end just went with what he felt the most familiar with - tennis.  He'd dialed the three numbers that seemed to fit the situation the most, and for some reason, Fuji's wasn't one of them.  Maybe he didn't want anyone around who could read him or would try to figure him out; he just wanted to play.

It felt great, letting everything out, relaxing in his favorite activity, bouncing up and performing the acrobatics he liked so much.  

But now the drawn-out endorphins were beginning to wear off, and memories of earlier began to drift back towards his mind.  He'd come to simply wander around, not minding if he got lost, until he came to a wonderfully nostalgic wooden sign.

From the entrance beneath it, an enticing scent of fish and vinegar came drifting to his nose, perking up the tumbly feeling he'd had in his stomach from skipping lunch.  He could hear customers rowdily calling out new orders and bellowing crude drinking songs.  A tall, stocky boy with a twisted white cloth circled around light brownish hair was moving enormous wooden bins from what looked like a back storage room to a large transportation truck.  

"Oi, Taka-san!" The red-head called enthusiastically, waving brightly at the familiar figure.

"Oh, hey Eiji," the youth he addressed gave a cordial smile, "What are you doing out here?"

"Trying to get lost.  Those look heavy, can I help?"

"Un.  They're empty now, but in the morning they'll be filled with fish."

Using his entire arms, Eiji lifted one of the smooth looking boxes with a little caution, but found that it wasn't really heavy, just bulky.

"Say, Eiji..."

"Hoi?"

"Are you alright?  You seemed kinda dazed...this morning at practice."

Eiji's feet stopped moving for a second, trying to bring morning practice into focus.  It seemed so far away, like something that happened a lifetime ago.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Um... if you wanna talk about it, you can. ... I know we've never really talked that much, and I mean, you'd probably rather talk to Oishi about it than me, but-" he shrugged, "if you need ears, you have mine."

A little smile pranced on Eiji's face, his lids falling a little over his eyes with mixed happiness and sadness.  Though pleasured by his friend's openness, he still felt a little pained by the ugly hole he knew he'd dug for himself.  He'd kind of avoided thinking about it up until now.

"Lately..." he began, but then he couldn't think of what to say.

"Hey, Taka-san, have you ever... been in love?"

He'd expected the power player to be a bit more startled, but Taka just smiled with his usual kindness, though his eyes looked a little sad.

"Un."

They didn't say anything for while, focusing on moving the large boxes back and forth, stacking them efficiently to pack in as many as they could, and so they wouldn't fall over when the truck moved.

"I..." Taka started, slight shy as he always was without a racket.  "I was... I had someone important to me.. have someone... well, I'm not quite over it yet.  I mean, I am over it, but there are still some small feelings...I guess I can't forget that easily."  He shook his head, as if to remind himself of something.  

"Was it..." Eiji started, then fell silent in courtesy.  He knew some paths should not be tread.

But Taka's smile only grew more gentle, and his eyes folded in the manner of Duchenne.  "Fuji," he filled in.

Silence again.  It was a quiet considerance, really.  But it lasted for only a moment, then Taka said, "Eiji, are you in love with Oishi?"

Surprisingly Eiji found that he wasn't really startled either.  Something about the cold, quiet night kept them calm, as if some celestial hand was mothering them with gentle pets, soothing their tremulous hearts with breezy whispers.

"Un."

Had Taka-san always been this understanding?  Eiji wished he'd known sooner, then they could have become friends - close friends - long ago, not now when they were already reaching the peak of their third year.  The tall youth waited for Eiji to continue.

"Though, I guess I only realized that that was it - that, it, was love - just today.  Just now, maybe even."

For a fluttering second the redhead's smile grew, then quickly faded to a depressed frown.

"I," he felt a little teary, "I yelled at him.  I said really horrible, mean things.  I wanted to tell him.. the truth...but it just... it came out all the opposite."  He stopped as he bit hard on his lip, using the small pain to jar away the droplets that were threatening to fall.

A warm hand gripped supportively on his shoulder.  "It's okay if you want to cry."

Eiji shook his head defiantly.  "No, I started it.  It's my fault.  I kept thinking that Oishi would understand, that he would know what I was trying to say, even though I kept saying so many nasty things... I'm so stupid."

Taka-san seemed thoughtful, his gaze turning towards the peaking stars that were slowly sneaking into the sky.

"I think... well, I guess.... If you don't share your thoughts with him, then how can he know how you feel?  I mean... Oishi, you know, he's one of the most understanding people on the team, but even he can't read minds.  No one can (not even Fuji).  Like, you can guess at what other people are thinking, from the way they act and their expressions and all, but as for what's actually in our brains... the only one who knows is you, right?  So... you have to clearly say it.  Otherwise, you'll regret it."

Another box was plopped into the truck's space by the acrobat, who puffed air into his cheeks a little bit in thought.

"Un.  What about you?  Have you ever said anything to Fuji?"

Taka shook his head.  "It's not like that.  Hehe, I must seem hypocritical.  Nah, it's just that Fuji isn't meant for me, and I know it.  I'm not right for him either, not at all.  And... now he has Tezuka."

He nodded, sadly but confidently, and Eiji realized this was something he'd decided a long time ago.

"It's alright.  I've accepted it, truly I have."

Eiji tilted his head to the side, eyes asking, 'is it really okay?' but voice nulled by respect.  

"I think," he pitched in, going with the mood, "it's a little different for me and Oishi.  In a lot of things, Oishi's always there next to me, and not just in tennis.  It's like he's naturally just supposed to be there.  He does things for me, and I do things for him.  We like to lean on each other, though this time maybe we leaned a little too much."

"Un, I think so too.  You guys match."  He helped Eiji fit a box into the last space at the top of the corner.  "It's different with Fuji.  Fuji is strong, but he needs someone to take care of him.  Tezuka is the only one strong enough to do that."

Eiji nodded in understanding.  It sometimes surprised people after seeing Fuji's strength to learn he wasn't his school's number one, that an even stronger monster ruled over Seigaku.  Eiji suddenly wondered if the whole affair had something to do with Taka-san's quitting tennis.  

"Oishi.. Oishi takes care of me."  His voice dwindled to a wistful mumble.  "Sometimes, when I'm with friends, or out to play, I get so excited, I become really giddy and bubbly and my head kind of empties out.  I run and jump and move on all these cheerful instincts, and I kind of stop thinking."  He paused, a thoughtful index finger pressing against his chin.  "Actually, I guess I don't think very much at all, hehehe."  His playful smile twirled out against the cooling winds.

"Hm..."  Taka returned the grin.  "You seem pretty serious this evening, though.  You must have really thought about all this."

"Really?!" A bright mien filled the redhead, his hands clapped together in gleeful anticipation.

"U...un."

"Yatta!" An ecstatic beam broke into the night, his whole body launched into the air.  "Ah, I mean... ah, heheheh, yeah! Now Oishi will like me better!"

"Oh?" The tall youth raised his eyebrows in surprise.  "But Oishi seems to like you enough already."

Eiji shook his head.  "That can't be right.  Oishi is so mature and serious!  He just looks after me cause I'm like a kid."

"Oh no, that's not it at all.  Oishi likes your cheerfulness.  It's the part of you that he probably likes best, because he's not like that at all.  You know what they say, opposites attract."  Setting down the next box with a thud, the honey brunette chuckled, suddenly feeling warmed by the acrobat's energy.  "Oishi couldn't like you any more than he already does!  And I'm sure he doesn't see you as a child, but as a friend."

Eiji's hands formed tiny fists, and he wiggled them up and down excitedly like he'd just got tickets to the World Tennis Cup, his face sparkling with an enormously happy smile that forced his eyes into jubilant slits.  Taka's smile also broadened, feeling some of that happiness channel into him, and he felt like laughing.

"Yay!!  Okay okay, I'm going to go see Oishi, and apologize to him."  He brought both fists in front of him, and gave a little hop of resolve.

Taka laughed heartily, fitting in the last box and drawing down the heavy back door.

"Hey, come tomorrow and I'll give you some free sushi!" He knocked the truck's metal door with the back of his hand.  "As thanks for helping."

"Yay!" Eiji paused for a second, then beamed merrily and added, "I'll bring Oishi!"

Taka-san's small nod said, 'I'll be expecting you' and then Eiji took off.  He first hurried home, and grabbed a green flamboyant gift bag he'd been saving for April.  Then he practically ran to the next place he needed to go.  Stopping abruptly and almost hesitantly before the familiar oak door, he took a deep breath and glanced at the plaque that read OISHI above a tiny glowing button.  Extending one lonely index finger, his hand slowly crept towards that tiny light, until his fingertip's skin brushed against the ice-cold metal.  He pressed it inwards.

------

THE END.

....

just kidding.

---- (I will write part 7 as soon as I can! ...hopefully someone wants to read it.  ^^;;)

Author's Note: Boy this chapter is long.   As I was planning it, I was like, I must make them meet all the regulars!!  Then later I was like, I must have Oishi meet all the people from Aozu, and Eiji meet all the people from Caps & Bins! ^^;; So I kind of came up with a way for it to work.  Hehe, well, they all show up... ^^;;;;; at least....

Aaa I have a lot of trouble understanding Oishi, I really do.  I probably disappoint all you Oishi fans, I'm sorry!  And oddly, I would have to say I would be very happy with a boy like him, like Taka-san says, opposites attract.   ^__^ He's such a nice boy.  He somehow puts up with all of Eiji's out-of-control antics and emotions.

Aaa Inui.  He knows love is uncalculatable. ^__^  And Fuji says that Tezuka often pms's.  And earlier he said that people pms when they're in love.  ^__^ *loves a little TezuFu*  Sorry for all the Regular's OOCness -__-;; I suck.

I tried to make Taka-san's way of speaking seem real, that's why he often switches around what he says so it's a little confusing.  But that's how people really talk (I think) or at least that's what I was going for.  Sorry for the confusion. 

Only one more to go!! Thank you if you have bothered to come this far.  ^^;; I know it's not a very good fic, but I am going to work hard to make it better and revise it and all.  Thank you thank you thank you for reading it!!