DISCLAIMER: I do not own Prince of Tennis.

Chapter 8: Missing

"Yanagi called."

"What'd squinty boy want?"

Niou asked his companion disinterestedly.

"Niou-kun, it is not polite to make fun of other's habits."

"Yeah. Yeah. What'd he say?"

Yagyuu sighed at his partner's manners. Nothing he wasn't used to by this time.

"Bucho and fukubucho missed their train, and shall not be here this morning. Yanagi expects they'll be here for afternoon practice."

"Shocking. Bet Yukimura partied with Fuji and his follower all night. Sanada probably had a pissing-"

"Niou-kun! Manners."

Niou smirked as his friend lost a little of his composure. It would be much more enjoyable if Yagyuu didn't have the glasses hiding the irritation in his eyes.

"As I was saying, they will likely be here for afternoon practice; however, Yanagi said they might not be in any condition to oversee us."

Chuckling, Niou shook his head. A Cheshire grin on his lips.

"Our fukubucho and bucho? Please, they get off torturing us. 'Specially 'Mura after he's had a bloody good hunt the night before. Shit, we're going to have to run so many laps this afternoon."

Glancing over at Yagyuu, he saw the other boy examining their surroundings.

Niou-kun, do not use the words hunt or bloody in conjunction with Yukimura-kun's name. Do you want people's attention on us?

Rolling his eyes, Niou shrugged.

Seriously Yagyuu, they aren't going to get anything from that. Humans are clueless, and they'll fill in the blanks with something rational. Yukimura being a vampire and the rest of the regulars being non-human would be their last thought.

The look Yagyuu gave him said he perfectly well believed people could make that connection. Niou rolled his eyes again.

"So if Sanada and Yukimura are gone, we can skip practice this morning. Cool."

He couldn't resist the urge to try and frazzle Yagyuu. His partner never made it visibly noticeable he was distressed, but the signs were there. Plus Niou was considering a switch that afternoon. And a frazzled Yagyuu impersonating him was always good entertainment.

"We are not skipping practice Niou-kun. If you prefer to be absent, I suppose you will make it up when Sanada-kun returns."

"Don't be a stick in the mud Yagyuu."

"I try not to be Niou-kun. In case you have forgotten, Yukimura-kun and Sanada-kun have to inform us about the meeting. Meaning we will be staying late and you will be running laps until midnight."

Niou caught the emphasized 'you'. Guess they wouldn't be switching. Annoying his partner was just as fun. Smirking he stared wide eyed at Yagyuu.

"Why Hiroshi, I never knew you cared so much! If it means that much to you, I'll go to practice this morning. Should I bring anything over tonight?"

He gushed, grabbing on to Yagyuu's arm. Yagyuu stared daggers at him through his glasses, meticulously removing Niou's hand from his arm.

I take it you noticed our audience Niou-kun?

Think she's a fangirl?

Has she fainted from that scene just now?

No, still breathing. A little shell shocked though.

Not one of ours then. Should we let her know we know she's there?

Niou smirked instead of answering. Turning his head he glared at the girl. Pointing at her, he yelled,

"Hey you! Enjoying the show?"

Yagyuu was so going to lecture him when she was gone. The girl pointed at herself.

"Hai you!"

"Uh, n-um…."

She responded, apparently unsure of what to say.

"I apologize for my companion's manners miss. Is there something we can do for you?"

She seemed relieved by Yagyuu's words. Niou pouted to himself.

"Hai. Sorry for interrupting…whatever…I just saw your uniforms and wondered if you were students at Rikkidai…Are you?"

"And if we are?"

Niou asked before Yagyuu was too polite for his own good. Already it wasn't good that the girl perked up at his question.

"I'd ask you to please let me follow you."

Niou and Yagyuu shared a quick glance.

"Is there a reason why you want to follow us to school miss?"

She looked apologetic.

"Sorry, my manners are atrocious. I am a new foreign exchange student. Sienne Arabella. In the rush to get to school this morning, I left my directions behind but didn't want to run all the way home to retrieve them."

Niou examined her. She did look like a foreigner. Tall and slight with unappealing murky greenish-brown eyes and what could be naturally light brown hair. There was also the slight lilt to her words that was probably an accent.

"And you just happened to see us and think we were students at Rikkidai?"

She shook her head, bobbing her curly ponytail.

"No, I recognized the uniform, and hoped you were students there. And if you were not, that you might give me general directions."

Niou nodded thinking this over. Normally he'd leave her on her own, but Yagyuu wasn't likely to let him. So he might as well make this to his advantage. After all, if they were busy giving her a tour there was no way they could be punished for skipping practice.

"Guess you lucked out, we are students there. And since you found us first, I guess Fate wants us to give you a tour of the school. How about it?"

He could feel Yagyuu staring suspiciously at him, but he just smiled. The girl smiled back.

"Okay then."

As she walked up to join them Niou slung an arm over her shoulder, startling her.

"By the way, I'm Yagyuu Hiroshi and the stick in the mud there is Niou Masaharu."

…

Fuji glared at the ground as he jogged around the track for the hundred and twenty-ninth time. How the hell did Echizen put up with doing this yesterday? Tezuka had text messaged him at five thirty to tell him he still had to complete all the laps from the other day, and he'd have more if he didn't finish them before practice. He'd only waved Seiichi and Saeki off at five fifteen that morning and hadn't even made it home when he'd gotten the message. So he took his time walking to the school making it there at six. For the last hour and a half he'd been running laps, but that wasn't what had him angry. Annoyed yes, but not angry.

Eiji was pouting. Fuji had noticed him leaving the club last night, but knew he wouldn't go too far. Hunters were after him for Kami's sake. He'd known Eiji was annoyed about his family and about Fuji's disregard for the others' misgivings. For once he was having too much fun. Rarely did he get a chance to hang out with Seiichi, Saeki, or any of the other young vampires around. Usually he didn't care, but sometimes Eiji couldn't understand what it was like to be the heir to a major clan. Seiichi and Saeki did. Most of the time Fuji avoided confiding the problems he was having, because he knew it they would only disturb his friend.

Eiji disliked being a vampire, a serious problem. At ten he had been turned by a rogue vampire. Something that made him overly sympathetic with the humans he needed to hunt. To hurt. To kill. Eiji wanted to be able to drink solely donated or synthetic blood, despite Fuji's explanations on why they couldn't. Sure that blood kept humans alive, but it wasn't healthy to continuously consume blood that wasn't fresh from the source. Often times, Eiji was too sensitive to the callous regard non-humans had for humans. He was better than he used to be, but Fuji could still tell when a flippant comment struck Eiji the wrong way.

Dealing with his friend's sensitivity all the time was tiring. Sometimes, like last night he'd just had to ignore it. Meaning he also had to deal with the blowup afterwards. Eiji had completely blown him off that morning. Fuji figured Eiji would come sulking in after Seiichi and he were finished with their snacks. They hadn't even killed the women. Mostly because they decided the council would be annoyed if they did. Only Eiji didn't show up, even after Saeki rejoined them. Attempts to locate Eiji's thoughts had come up blank. Leaving him to assume Eiji had ignored the orders to stay close to Fuji, and returned to the house. All his texts were being ignored too.

So now Fuji was angry at Eiji for throwing a silent fit. Tezuka ordering him to run these laps for teasing him yesterday was not helping. It hadn't escaped his notice just how bedraggled Sanada was when he met Seiichi at the train, and he definitely noticed how scruffy Seigaku's bucho and fukubucho were. Momo, Arai and the others had appeared a half hour later, but if they had arrived earlier Fuji knew they'd have been just as disheveled. As it was Inui, Kaidoh and Kawamura looked the best kempt of all the Regulars. Glancing around, Fuji still couldn't catch a glimpse of Eiji or Echizen. Where were those two? Practice should start soon, and he' was going to torture Echizen for the next month if he didn't arrive on time.

Ryuzaki-sensei came out and blew her whistle calling everyone over to her. Fuji was relieved. He'd finished his laps just in time. Completing a few quick stretches he walked back over to her. Momoshiro in a fit of inspiration seemed to be looking around.

"Hey, where's Echizen?"

Fuji had snapped his eyes open as a slight figure ambled over.

"Here Momo-senpai."

"Good to see you could make it on time Echizen-kun."

Fuji commented having snapped his eyes shut. Echizen snorted.

"Like I didn't know you were planning to torment me if I was late Fuji-senpai."

Shrugging, Fuji smiled sweetly at his kohai. Momoshiro and Kaidoh both moved away, but Echizen did his best to ignore him. Inui was having a field day taking notes. They waited for Ryuzaki-sensei to finish giving out directions, before she got to them. Apparently, she decided Tezuka should not speak today. Fuji wondered if Inui could tell him who won the alpha male contest.

"Regulars! Today we will be training for your next tournament. Inui-kun has been considerate enough to collect some data on our potential opponents, so I've decided to let him lead your training today. Afterwards pick an opponent and play a practice match with them. Go!"

Fuji perked up a bit hearing Inui was planning their training. Rumor had it Inui had created a new Inui juice, and Fuji was eager to try it. Really, he didn't understand why Momoshiro was making such a fuss about it. O why the other's looking green.

"Will Eiji-senpai have to run one hundred and fifty laps for being late?"

Everyone turned to look at their youngest member. A few people only now realizing Eiji wasn't there. Oishi in particular looked worried and surprised.

"Fuji, where is Kikumaru?"

Tezuka inquired suspiciously. Everyone else eyed him a moment later. He was supposed to be watching Eiji after all. Fuji shrugged continuing to head to the courts.

"At home pouting."

Oishi ran up to him looking towards at the gates more than Fuji.

"Is everything alright? Did something happen?"

Shrugging again, Fuji avoided eye contact with Oishi.

"He's mad about last night. We left the dinner with his family early to hang out with Yukimura and Saeki. Now he is ignoring me."

Oishi nodded a frown marring his face.

"If you're sure... I'll try and call him after practice. Maybe he'll talk to me."

Fuji let his shoulders sag a little in relief.

"Okay. Don't be alarmed if he doesn't respond though."

Oishi smiled wanly, and they continued to the courts together.

…

In a brilliantly lit hospital, a young woman laid on the bed. A heart monitor at her side measured out a steady pulse rate. Outside her room a nurse and doctor spoke to a detective. The nurse held out a bag to the detective.

"This is everything she came to the hospital with?"

The nurse nodded.

"Hai, that's all she had on her when we found her."

The detective grimaced.

"And your positive she couldn't have made it here on her own? Someone had to help her?"

The nurse smiled regretfully.

"That's what we assume. Her head wound was pretty bad. There is no way for us to determine how long she was lying out front before someone noticed her. The way she was lying down suggests someone carried her though."

Sighing, the detective took the bag.

"And you're sure she is in a coma, Takko-sensei?"

The doctor glanced at his chart before nodding to the detective.

"She had some shallow surface cuts on her, but they weren't that bad. I assume she was hit hard on the head receiving a concussion but wasn't brought to us early enough. No telling when she'll wake up. There was a cut on her neck that concerned me, but it doesn't seem to have bled much. That's all I can tell you."

"Hai. Thank you. I think I'll try and contact the girl's family now. Hopefully they can shed some light on this."

The detective said taking leave of the doctor and nurse.

…

NEW MESSAGE

From: Oishi

Eiji, are you okay? Missed you at practice. Please respond?

The Himalayan cat stared at the blinking phone. Pawing it, she was disappointed when it stopped moving. After another few seconds she walked away to play with the pervert. Maybe acquire a treat from the quiet woman.

REPLY SENT

To: Oishi

Author's Note:

Revised: 3/1/12

I hope you read the second half of the last chapter; otherwise this one might not have made sense.

Thanks for Reading,

False Sourires