The Named [2/?]
Tezuka woke in a cold sweat. He wiped the back of his hand across his forehead and found that it came away damp. He couldn't remember the dream that had caused it, but it must have been a nightmare to bring about this sort of reaction.
Reaching blindly for his glasses in the dark room, he sat up and rubbed at his temples. He didn't even know what time it was.
A quick glance at the digital clock on his nightstand confirmed that it was close to one o'clock in the morning. He wasn't sure that he'd be able to get back to sleep in his current state. When he looked carefully at his hands, he could see a slight trembling.
What sort of nightmare had it been?
A sudden noise near his head interrupted him. He recognized well the buzzing of his cell phone. He swore he has turned it on silent before falling asleep. He always did, just in case someone like Inui should find it acceptable to interrupt his nightly rest.
Sure enough, when he flicked it open, that was exactly who had messaged him
Tezuka, the message read. I'm aware that you're sleeping, but please message me when you awaken.
He frowned hard at the screen. What could Inui possibly want at this hour. Surely he knew the importance of a good night's rest?
He contemplated replying to the message for a long time. If he replied now, Inui would know he was awake. That would encourage more conversation between them, probably. He wasn't sure that he really wanted to know what Inui needed to talk to him about.
Still, he found his thumbs already tapping out a reply before he could think any harder about it. There was a possibility that someone they knew was in some sort of trouble.
Inui's message came not too long after Tezuka's had sent. Instead of clarifying, however, it only served to confuse him further.
Tezuka, did you have a bad dream?
Why would Inui possibly care about that?
The skin between his brows pinched heavily with the weight of his apparent displeasure.
How did you know?
There was no sense in asking why he wanted to know. Inui would, most likely, not tell him. He'd asked a multitude of strange questions over the years. Everything from his favorite foods to his favorite colors to which side he slept on. The last could possibly be relevant to tennis, but the others, in Tezuka's opinion, were completely without value.
I also woke from a nightmare.
'Inui, too?' Tezuka asked himself. He wondered if they'd dreampt about the same thing before immediately dismissing the idea as ridiculously childish. He was 17-years-old. It was time to get rid of these childish habits of dreaming about hypotheticals.
Still....
Do you also not remember yours?
He cursed himself, inwardly. It was a temptation he had to give in to. Curiosity got the better of him, as much as he didn't want to admit it.
I remember it.
The reply came quickly, followed soon after by a phone call.
He sighed before picking up. Yes, there was a very good possibility that he would not get any sleep tonight. This would not bode well for his studies the next day. He needed to be alert for his classes.
"Yes?"
"Tezuka, you don't remember your nightmare?"
Inui's voice was strange, and it set Tezuka on edge. He hadn't even greeted Tezuka. Inui always gave a "hello" at least.
"I do not," he confirmed.
"Ah." There was a long silence and what sounded like a lot of moving on the other end of the line. He heard footsteps and figured that Inui had probably stepped out of his room so he didn't bother his family with his talking. Sure enough, there were sounds of doors opening and closing.
"There was a hospital in mine," Inui informed him. "I only knew it was a hospital by instinct; it did not look like a hospital I've ever seen."
Tezuka waited patiently for the rest of the story. Perhaps he'd had a dream about someone close to him suffering?
"Nothing happened in the dream. I was in scrubs, but I saw no patients. I walked through the empty hallways." There was a creaking noise and a loud sigh. "When I finally found someone, they addressed me as number 53.
What do you suppose that means?"
Tezuka was quiet for a long time. "I don't know, Inui."
And with that, he hung up. He powered down his phone and removed his glasses. After setting both carefully into their proper places on his bedside table and adjusting his covers just so, he attempted to gain a few more hours of sleep before it was time for his morning run.
He lay there awake for what seemed like hours. Tezuka Kunimitsu had never in his life tossed and turned in his bed, but tonight seemed to be one for firsts.
When he finally fell into a restless, dreamless state of sleep, it was into the wee hours of morning. The sky had already started to lighten. His last thought before his eyes finally closed was that his alarm would be going off soon.
The alarm clock was obnoxious to his tired ears. He resisted the urge to reach over and slam the snooze button, but only barely. He had to get up for school. It was irresponsible to miss a day of school for something like a lack of sleep.
He grabbed his glasses off of the small table and dragged himself out of bed. Maybe a light jog around the neighborhood would help. The cool fall air would surely help wake him up.
But, for what seemed like the first time in his life, Tezuka just didn't feel like doing what had been part of his wake-up routine for over five years now.
He'd run around the track once he got to school, he decided. He needed a little time to get himself ready for the day of thinking and exercise ahead. He couldn't remember the last time he didn't get a full eight hours of sleep. It had certainly been a long time; even longer since he'd gotten barely enough to function.
He sighed and turned his phone back on. He stood to get dressed while he waited for the welcoming screen animation to play through. He grabbed his uniform from his closet and dressed half-aware of what he was doing.
He shook his head. This was ridiculous. There was no way he could go out of the house looking like this. What sort of example would he be setting? He purposefully unbuttoned and rebuttoned his uniform shirt, getting all the buttons in the right places this time. He ran a comb through his unruly locks until they held some semblance of being under control. Luckily, there was not much that could go wrong with a simple pair of pants.
He gathered his materials for the day and packed his schoolbag. He even had time to go over his homework one last time before closing the bag and laying it on his bed. Not sure what else to do with his free time, he checked his phone. He was surprised to see that he had new messages.
He figured they were probably from Inui. As he scrolled through the list, he found that he was right. Most of them were asking why he'd hung up or asking if Tezuka had this or that in his dream.
He wouldn't have been able to answer the questions anyway. He had exactly zero recollection of what went on in that nightmare.
His eyes widened. The last message in his inbox was one from Fuji. The time stamp told him that the message had come while he was on the phone with Inui. He wondered what the other boy had wanted. The message read, simply, "call me."
He glanced at his clock. It was still early. He wasn't sure what Fuji's morning routine was like, but he didn't want to wake him if he wasn't up. Instead, he wrote up a quick message telling Fuji to meet him early at the school. He hurried downstairs and ate enough of his breakfast to not get any scoldings from his family. With a destination in mind, he grabbed up his school bag and headed over to their high school.
He hopped on his bike and rode quickly towards the familiar building. It didn't take long to get there. Even if Fuji didn't show up until his usual time, Tezuka could still get some exercise in before school. As he pulled in front of the building and secured his bike, however, a familiar form greeted him.
"Good morning, Tezuka." Smiling blue eyes and light brown hair seemed especially vibrant in the still-rising sun.
"Good morning, Fuji." He pulled the key to the gate's lock out of his pocket as he headed towards the tennis area. "You were up late."
"Yes, I was." The other boy followed close behind him, though he was significantly shorter. Tezuka did not slow his steps for him; he'd never needed to in the past. "Were you asleep when I messaged you?"
He glanced over at the other boy. "I wasn't," he admitted. "Inui called me."
"Oh?" Fuji leaned against the fence while Tezuka unlocked the padlock. Out of the corner of his hazel eyes, Tezuka could see the surprise on Fuji's features. "Did he wake you?"
"He didn't." He pushed open the silver chain-link and left room for Fuji to go through first. With a polite nod, Fuji walked toward the clubhouse.
"I couldn't sleep last night," Fuji admitted. "Every time I tried, I'd wake right back up again. It was the oddest feeling. Like my body was rejecting sleep. Has that ever happened to you?"
Tezuka frowned. It was strange to him that all three of them had had difficulties sleeping the night before.
"No." He unlocked the clubhouse and placed his schoolbag in his cubby. Grabbing his sports bag, he headed deeper into the room to change. He expected Fuji to close the door behind him when he entered. He did so. Usually, it wasn't just the two of them here this early. Oishi normally came in before anyone. That's why it was his job to unlock the gate and clubhouse. Tezuka, being the captain, also had keys to these things. However, he and Fuji easily fell into a rhythm. They'd been teammates and, yes, even friends long enough for them to read and feed off of each other.
Quickly undressing, Tezuka folded his school uniform with precise motions and set them on the bench to take back out to his cubby later. He took note of the fact that FUji did the same. It was nice in a way. Just the two of them. Fuji was always so calm and quiet. He was unlike the other, rowdier, members of the club.
They changed in silence. Once outside of the clubhouse, Fuji held his racket up. "Want to help me warm up?"
Tezuka nodded. "That's fine."
Light rallies were exchanged between them. It was just enough to get the body used to moving again after a long night of not being used.
"Last night," Fuji started, "when I closed my eyes and started drifting, it was like my body was scared to sleep."
Tezuka didn't know why Fuji was telling him all of this, but he nodded anyway. It was something that would be better said to Inui. He would keep track of it better. Instead he just made an agreeable noise and returned the ball to Fuji's side.
"Tezuka," Fuji started again as he hit the ball back, "if Inui and I didn't wake you, then why were you up? From what I remember, you keep to a strict sleeping schedule."
It was a strange thing for Fuji to ask. Normally, the other boy wouldn't outright ask for information he actually cared about (with the exception of schoolwork, of course). So, it was odd for Tezuka to hear an honest inquisition from the younger.
"I do keep to a schedule," he agreed. He sighed as he returned the ball with a little more force than he'd planned. He saw the other boy's eyes open in surprise. It must be really important to Fuji that he answer this. "I had a nightmare." He wasn't embarrassed by this admission. It was perfectly normal for people to have dreams that frightened them. No, he just didn't want to hear the inevitable slurry of questions that would follow the information.
"What about?" Fuji hit the ball a little more forcefully to return Tezuka's serve.
"I don't remember." From the look on Fuji's face, he didn't believe Tezuka. He was telling the truth. He really didn't remember anything about the dream. There was a vague stirring of familiarity in Inui's description, but he couldn't say anything for sure. How odd would it be if they all dreampt the same thing?
"I see. That must be troublesome," he said finally.
After that, they warmed up in silence for a long while. They shot balls back and forth to one another. Some were easy to return, some were a bit trickier, but, ultimately, they weren't trying to defeat each other. They weren't even keeping score. It was just a pleasant rally between two friends and teammates.
It was Fuji who broke this silence. "I called you," he started, "about my own dream."
Tezuka rubbed at his temple with his free hand. Of course that's what he wanted to discuss.
"Inui would be a better person to talk to," he said immediately.
To this, FUji shook his head. "I don't want to discuss it with Inui. It didn't involve him."
This came as a surprise to Tezuka. Was Fuji implying that it had something to do with him? He gestured with his hand for the other boy to continue.
"We were in a hospital, you and I...." He frowned a bit. "I believe we were doctors."
Surprise jolted Tezuka's body. His first thought was that maybe Fuji and Inui were attempting to play a joke on him. It wasn't entirely impossible. They'd tried similar things in the past.
He concentrated hard on Fuji's serious face. No, this wasn't a joke. He seemed to honestly not know that Inui had called him to tell him something similar.
"A hospital?" He gathered himself and composed his features quickly. If he pretended it wasn't important to him, he would probably get more information out of the smaller boy.
"I believe it was a hospital," Fuji said slowly. "It didn't much look like one." He hit the ball once more, lobbing it into the air. "The weirdest thing would be the code numbers we were given. I think we were doctors. COuld you imagine that, Tezuka? You and I as doctors?"
Tezuka caught the ball with his racket and approached the net. "I'm going to run a few laps."
He didn't like this. If they weren't playing a joke on him, then it was an awfully odd coincidence. Somehow, though, it didn't feel like that's all it was. Tezuka had a very bad feeling about all of this, and he couldn't explain why. It might have had something to do with his previous bad night, or it may have even been his lack of sleep. Regardless, he didn't like it. He wanted to get away from this as soon as possible. It'd all blow over eventually, right?
"I'll come with you." Fuji carefully put his racket in his duffel bag and did a few stretches before walking to where they usually started when they ran around the enclosed courts.
Of course he would.
Tezuka, himself, prepared his body for the exercise, set his own racket on the bench by Fuji's things, and approached the boy who was already jogging in place.
"Shall we?" Fuji offered his arm to Tezuka, smiling. Tezuka ignored the offered limb; he had no idea why Fuji would even suggest such a display, but nodded.
They ran together, neither trying to outdo the other, until Oishi showed up. Others soon followed him. (Which was odd in itself, but Tezuka didn't say anything.) It was time to start practice.
~*~
It wasn't until the afternoon practice that Tezuka noticed something was wrong with his team. When he entered the clubhouse, everyone didn't scatter and pretend to be busy like they normally did. Instead, they stayed huddled close together around the whiteboard that stood at the far end of the small cubby area. It was always odd to Tezuka that the whiteboard was there in the first place. They were a tennis club. It's not like they needed to create plays or anything.
He cleared his throat loudly, hoping he didn't have to reprimand anyone. The day had taken a toll on his already-exhausted body; he was much worse off now than he was when he'd entered the school today.
Only Echizen looked back at him.
"Buchou."
"Echizen," he greeted back. He looked towards the group of still-huddled students and back at Echizen, the obvious question on his face.
"They're talking about dreams or something." He waved his hand in the air dismissively. "I don't know why."
Eiji seemed to take notice of youngest's absence. "O-chibi? Ah, Tezuka's here!" Waving joyfully at his captain, Eiji skipped over and wrapped an arm around Tezuka's shoulders. "Fujiko told me about your dream. You should come over with us. Maybe you'll remember something!"
Tezuka said nothing of the hand on his shoulder, nor of the smaller body cuddling close to his. Eiji had always been ridiculously touchy-feely. It seemed like he'd only gotten worse over the years instead of better.
"We have practice." He cleared his throat again, hoping someone would take notice and encourage the others, but even Eiji and Echizen ignored him. That didn't bode well. "Everyone! Run--"
"Tezuka," Inui interrupted. "Excuse me, but I believe this is important."
Tezuka looked at him for a long time before giving a single nod. It was Inui; there had to be a very good reason for delaying practice if it was Inui. Even if Echizen had said they were discussing dreams, and Eiji had tried co-ercing him into sharing what he couldn't remember, there still had to be a perfectly plausible reason for disrupting their precious practice time.
"We've been following this for a while." He stepped back and everyone followed suit, revealing a clear path to the whiteboard. "It seems we've all been sharing dreams. If it's a coincidence, it's more than a little odd."
Hazel eyes swept over the scribble-covered white surface. Diagrams and notes covered every surface.
He took a few steps forward, his eyes widening the closer he got. One image in particular stood out. There was what appeared to be a badge with the number 26 on it.
A memory tried to surface, but dissipated as quickly as it appeared.
Tezuka was confused. He didn't like not udnerstanding what was going on in his head.
"Eveyrone, out of the club room, now! You may all run 35 laps as punishment for delaying practice. Things like this should be discussed after practice, if at all." His voice was as steady as it always was, but when he looked down at his hands, he could see them shake ever-so-slightly. Just like they did last night.
Once the room had cleared out, he pulled a piece of paper from his notebook and copied down the image that had bothered him so much. It was an afterthought, really. Once he had folded the page and placed it back in his bag, he wondered why he'd done it in the first place. This was a childish thing to be concentrating on. They shared dreams. People had similar dreams all the time. They, as a team, experienced much of the same events during the day and, thanks to Inui, ate and stayed away from much of the same foods. They came in contact with much of the same people. It was reasonable to assume that their minds would create similar things.
Still, Tezuka could not shake this feeling of anxiety in the very pit of his stomach. It was an awful feeling. One that gave him chills and made his skin break out in raised bumps of flesh. He felt nauseous. What was going on with him? What was happening?
Focusing on it would only make things worse, he decided. The best thing he could do right now was focus on the here and now. The nightmare was in the past. It would not help his team if he was stuck inside of his head. He needed to be a captain.
So, with a renewed confidence, he gathered up his gear and headed outside to captain his team.
That night, he dreampt of pigs flying over red-and-yellow striped circus tents.
The days passed by uneventfully after that. Either the rest of the team had gotten wise to the fact that Tezuka wasn't interested in their silly dream talk, or nothing had happened since. Nobody called him in the middle of the night to discuss anything strange, and everyone began to scatter when they saw him approaching the clubhouse again. It was nice for things to be normal again.
The days slowly turned into weeks. He hadn't woken from bad dreams since that one night, and had begun to attribute it to stress over the exams coming up. Tezuka studied hard to prepare himself. He created a small group with Fuji and Inui. From what he'd heard, Oishi and Eiji were working together which let Tezuka breathe a sigh of relief. Only Oishi could have the patience to continually force Eiji to refocus his efforts on his work. Together, the three of them met in libraries, over houses, and in classrooms whenever they had spare time to prepare themselves. Not only were midterms going to be rough this year, but they also had university entrance exams to start thinking of.
Yes, it was the stress from all of this that had set off Tezuka's nightmare, he was sure of it. In fact, he was so sure that he hadn't even thought of it for weeks.
"Fuji, will you pass me that pencil, please?" Inui's deep voice broke the silence.
"Sure."
The three of them were spread out in Tezuka's room. It was his turn to host the study group tonight. He worked at his desk while Fuji had claimed the floor to sprawl out on. Inui's workbooks had completely eaten his bed.
He spared a glance over at his classmates. "Did everyone understand problem six?"
He looked over his work again. He was pretty sure that he understood it, but "pretty sure" wasn't good enough when he was positive that these sorts of questions would be on test.
A "yes" duet answered his question.
"Tezuka, did you get it?" This, from Inui.
"Would it trouble you to explain it?"
"Not at all." A flash of white teeth. "It's my pleasure to be able to help our captain."
A giggle from Fuji made him raise his brow. Inui was likely mocking him, but he wasn't going to encourage the behavior by feeding it with a response. Instead, he pulled his book around and slid his notebook on top of it.
"Yes, you've got it." It was always amazing how much Inui changed when there were calculations involved. "It would be easier if you thought of it like this, however."
"Ah." Tezuka watched carefully as Inui reworked his problem in a way he hadn't thought of. He was going by how it was written in the book, but Inui's way was much faster. "As expected of Inui."
Fuji got up to join them. "Of course. He understands it better than the book."
A smirk was the only response Tezuka and Fuji got. The tall boy quickly excused himself back to the bed to finish up his own work. If Tezuka didn't know better, he'd swear the the brunet were blushing. But, not, that was impossible. In all the years he'd known Inui, he'd never known him to be embarrassed about praise. Especially when it was well earned.
They worked in silence like that for a long time. Only occasionally would someone break the comfortable quiet to ask for a tool or explanation. They all worked well together, Tezuka thought. He wished he'd thought of this years ago when they were preparing for high school entrance exams.
"So Tezuka," Inui said abruptly, closing his math book and reaching for another. "Have you been sleeping well?"
"Yes." The answer came immediately, but Tezuka didn't like the way his back stiffened at the question. He didn't know why the question should bother him so much. Inui had asked far worse things over the years.
"Ah. That's good."
Quiet prevailed for a long time. The hours flew by at a rate that seemed to surprise everyone. It always happened that way. They would sit down at five and, before they knew it, the sun had already set and parents were calling, wondering why their children hadn't come home for baths yet.
Remembering this, Tezuka looked at his watch. It was already eight. He brought this to the attention of the others.
"I should have been home an hour ago," Fuji announced. "I promised to help Yuuta with his homework."
He gathered his things and bid his classmates goodnight, promising that he could find his own way out. Tezuka trusted him to do so. Fuji'd been over enough times to know how to reach his front door by now.
"Will you also be leaving, Inui?" He hoped he would take the hint. He really wanted to soak in the bath for a while tonight before relaxing. He'd had a long day and some nice hot water sounded very appealing.
"Would you prefer it if I did?"
Tezuka didn't answer him. Inui was going to be difficult tonight. If he answered "yes," Inui would tease him, thus delaying his leaving. If he answered "no," Inui would, of course, stay. Either way, he was going to be late on going home.
His pencil scribbled across his page. He'd finished everything he needed to get done except for his English homework. He always saved that for last. It took the longest. He really wanted to take German this year, but they insisted on English.
He got distracted by something going on and pressed his pencil point too hard against the page. It snapped in an obvious rebellion. As he reached for his pencil sharpener, his arm hit something and knocked it onto the floor. The sudden sound sounded like a gunshot in the quiet room.
Reaching down to grab the folded sheet, he frowned. He didn't remember this being on his desk. He unfolded the page, his pencil forgotten.
"You copied it down?"
He was unaware of Inui even crossing the room. The voice behind him surprised him enough that he almost dropped the paper.
Refusing to answer, he crumpled the page and tossed it carelessly into the wastebasket near his door. It was ridiculous. He didn't know why he'd even bothered saving it. He felt childish for even doing it.
"Tezuka, your hands are shaking."
So they were.
He frowned at nothing and went to retrieve it. This was absolutely absurd. There was no reason for him to be scared of a drawing. A completely innocent, completely innocuous, drawing of a badge and number.
He pulled the abused paper from among the other disregarded pages. Now that he thought about it, he wondered how he knew it was a badge that he was looking at.
Tere was certainly no indication on the image that it would be a badge, but that was the only thing Tezuka could seem to think of when he saw it. It wasn't the usual shield shape. Instead, it was shaped almost more like an egg, but with two triangular points coming out of the left and right sides. In the middle, surrounded by a circle, was his number.
"...My number?"
"Hmm?" Inui leaned in to get a closer look at the page, Tezuka assumed. "Your number? Why do you say that?"
"I don't know," Tezuka said truthfully. He wasn't sure why he said it, but it felt right somehow. This was his number, 26.
He was quiet for a long time, holding that page in his still-shaking hands. "Inui," he said after a long quiet. "Wasn't it you who said that you were referred to by a number in that dream you had?"
Damn it! Hadn't he promised that he wouldn't read into all of this stuff? He was projecting; this number had absolutely nothing to do with anything. It looked familiar because he'd seen it on the whiteboard so long ago. That was all. He made the connection because of all of the talk. That was all. He would not get sucked into this.
"...Yes," Inui said slowly. "Are you saying that this is the number you were referred to?"
"No," Tezuka responded immediately. "No, it's nothing after all. Inui, would you be offended if I asked you to leave? I'm quite tired."
Inui shook his head. "Not at all." He went to pack his bag back up and stopped halfway through. "Tezuka, I'll be up late studying...."
He didn't actually say it, but Tezuka knew what he was offering. It was essentially Inui-speak for "if you need me, call me."
He nodded his understanding. It was his way of saying thanks. There were similar in more ways than just their study habits.
He let Inui see himself out. Inui, like Fuji, had been over his house enough times to know the way to the front. Besides, Tezuka reasoned. There was a good chance that Inui already had the blueprints to everyone's houses printed up and stashed somewhere in his room. He really wanted to discount this as an immature assumption, but one should never discount Inui's ability to gather information.
He placed the paper back on his desk. He hadn't even been aware that he was still holding it. It bothered him immensely that he seemed so attached to the simple sketch. He wished that he could recall more details of his dream.
'No,' he thought. He would not think about this anymore. He shoved the paper almost angrily into his desk drawer and shut the thing away. If it was out of his sight, maybe he wouldn't think about it so much.
He finished up the last bit of his homework without interruption, and packed his bag for the next day afterwards. The more he prepared for the next day, the better. Afterward, he gathered his pajamas and went to take that long soak he promised himself.
Thankfully, his family had prepared the bath already. He stripped and showered, his mind pointedly ignoring the very thing he had shut up in his desk.
The hot water felt good against his tired skin. He'd been so, so tired lately. It worried him a little, but he figured it was only expected with his exams coming up.
Rivulets of water chased each other down his body. Steam rose where it condensed in the cooler air. He hadn't even realized that the water was so hot. Briefly, he wondered if he was coming down with something. That would also explain his persistent fatigue and the fact that he couldn't seem to get completely warm. It was frustrating. He took very good care of his body (and he had far too much to do to be getting sick now).
He rinsed the soap from his skin and slipped into the hot water, hissing in pleasure as it warmed him. It was wonderful to relax for once. It wasn't often that he felt safe enough to let his guard down completely. There were very few people that he was able to do this with. In fact, there weren't any, currently. Inui and Fuji could probably be counted among his closest friends. Oishi, too. Still, he didn't completely relax around them. Though Oishi probably came the closest.
He wondered if everyone had gotten their baths tonight. Should he drain the tub after he was finished. He figured it was late enough to safely do so. Most of his family would be in bed already. They'd eaten long ago, after all. His mother loved cooking for his friends.
He pulled the plug and watched the water spiral down the drain, almost in disappointment. Shaking his head, he grabbed his towel and wrapped it around himself as he climbed out. Hopefully tonight would bring him a peaceful sleep.