Author's Note

So the idea for this one-shot came as I was falling asleep last night. Before I could stop it, the entire story had fleshed itself out in my mind and was begging to be born. So much for my full night's rest, haha. I'm a bit nocturnal, which really doesn't work out when one has to be awake and functional in the morning. Oh well.

This is the first one-shot I've posted. I've always been kind of nervous about writing them because I wasn't sure if they'd be good enough, haha. If you all like this one, I might try posting another?

Reads and Reviews appreciated.

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis. I also don't know if such an operation even exists, but for the sake of this story, it does.

I had been careless.

One little accident was all that it had taken for my vision to be robbed from me. One moment, I was walking beside Tezuka, the next my body exploded with pain. I had not seen the car that was turning much too quickly, didn't realize that it had skidded out of control over the slick roads.

My umbrella had flown out of my hand as my body flew across the road. All I remembered was the pain, and the cold, wet pavement warming beneath me. Then my world went black.

I swam back to consciousness first. It was dark, pitch-black. I could hear the quiet beeps and whirring of machines around me. Voices talked in hushed voices. I tried to move, to sit up, but pain shot through my entire body. Someone noticed my distress.

"You're awake." That voice could only belong to Tezuka. I felt the rim of a glass at my lips and tentatively took a sip. Water had never tasted so good.

"Tezuka," I whispered hoarsely. "What happened and where are we?"

"We're at the hospital," Tezuka's voice was clipped and somber.

"Why? What happened?"

A pause. "Do you not remember?"

I shook my head slightly, cringing as the movement caused my head to spin. "Just turn the lights on so I can see what's happening already!"

"I…" I could hear the hesitation in Tezuka's voice.

A female voice spoke. Yumiko was there. "The lights are on."

I frowned. "No they're not. Stop playing such a cruel joke, guys. Please turn the lights on." I tried my best to keep the panic from my voice.

To my right, Yumiko broke down into sobs. "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry!"

My world had been plunged into darkness, my vision robbed. The doctors spoke of possible operations, of treatments, of ways to cope with being blind. They rattled off medications, services, percentages, and other details that I found trivial. I did not care to listen.

I no longer knew what happened around me, could not see my friends or family. They visited often; I could hear their voices. Kikumaru came often with Oishi in tow. Yumiko would stop by after work every day to tell me the news. Yuuta even came once, shuffling in his awkwardness.

I couldn't even see the face of the man I loved, had loved for so long. Tezuka often came to visit, sitting by my side and talking about the day. I plastered a smile on my face and nodded most of the time, but sometimes it became too much.

"Why me, Tezuka?" I asked quietly one day.

I heard Tezuka shift uncomfortably in his seat. I knew it was unfair to ask him that question, for he wouldn't have the answer. No one would.

"I can't take it anymore!" I suddenly shouted. My frustration got the best of me, and I grabbed onto anything I could, throwing it across the room. It shattered satisfyingly. "I don't want to live like this, Tezuka!"

I could hear nurses rushing into the room, trying to hush my screaming. No matter how loud I screamed, no matter how long I screamed for, it did not quell the anguish that resonated through my soul.

It was quiet in the hospital when I next awoke. I kept my eyes closed, listening to the hushed voice in the room.

"He says he can't take it anymore, that he doesn't want to live like this," Tezuka said, the hopelessness seeping into his voice. "I don't know what to do anymore."

A familiar voice rose to answer Tezuka. "Mada mada dane, Tezuka-buchou."

The operation was successful. The doctors had managed to find a willing donor, and I'd gone through a very risky transplant operation. My new eyes were kept under bandages for weeks while they healed, and I was impatient to see the world once again.

My family was in the room with me, Yumiko and Yuuta on either side of my bed, holding my hands. "Oh Syuusuke," Yumiko had cried when news reached us that there was a donor. "You'll be able to see again."

Yuuta's voice murmured softly. "I wish we knew who the donor was.

The day finally came when I could take off my bandages. I blinked against the painful light as my eyes adjusted slowly, but everything soon cleared up. The world was so beautiful, so bright. My new eyes provided me with vision clearer than my old eyes had.

I looked at Tezuka, taking in his appearance. He smiled at me, but there was some kind of shadow lurking behind his happiness. I dismissed it at the time, for I was overjoyed at being able to see him again. "Tezuka," I breathed. "It's so good to see you again."

"Aa." He agreed, turning his head away.

I lay on the hospital bed, looking around me and thinking. Ever since the bandages had been removed, everyone had been treating me strangely. They would avoid eye contact, or abruptly excuse themselves. It puzzled me. Why would they behave as such?

Today, I would finally be allowed out of my bed. I was healing nicely, and the doctors would release me from the hospital soon. I got out of bed for the first time in over a week with the aid of a nurse. I had her lead me to a window. The world was so beautiful.

I caught a movement in the corner of my eye. I turned and saw Tezuka standing in the doorway. I smiled, and reached out one hand to him. He looked down, not meeting my gaze. I frowned.

"Why do you look away from me?" I asked. I grew impatient as he did not answer. "Tezuka! What's going on? Why are you avoiding me?"

Tezuka mumbled quietly. "They're his eyes."

"What…?" I hissed. Suddenly, a thought struck me, and I crossed the room quickly. I ran down the hall to the bathroom, hearing Tezuka's footsteps as he followed me. I ripped the door open and turned to face the mirror.

Wide golden eyes stared back at me.

I stood in his room, staring as he lie on his own hospital bed. He looked so small, so quiet. But then again, he always had been. Turning my head, I looked out to the window, once again taken aback by how beautiful the world was. Was this how he had always seen the world? I suppressed a sob as the thought registered in my mind.

"Is someone there?" My gaze went back to the little figure on the bed. Pale blue eyes stared emptily around the room, the pupils almost non-existent. The little prince sat up slowly. "You've come," he said softly.

The tears sprang to my eyes. This fearless, snarky prince had given up his vision for me. He sacrificed his beautiful world, traded it in for a life of darkness. My voice shook as I spoke. "Why did you do it?"

He smiled sadly. "You still haven't learned to see with your eyes closed."

Years passed. I still remember the day I was released from the hospital. Tezuka had led me down the steps of the hospital carefully, and we had driven home in silence. We soon drifted apart, all of us. I never found out what happened to the little prince.

I had almost gotten used to the gold eyes that stare back at me every time I pass by a mirror. They are my reminder of him, and the question I asked him that still lingers unanswered. I shook my head; maybe I would just never understand.

I swung my scarf around my neck, buttoning up my coat against the autumn wind. Stepping outside, I made my way to the nearby park. Red, orange, and yellow leaves drifted towards the ground, and the fresh air was crisp and cool. I picked up one golden leaf, staring at it in my hand as I sat down on a bench. Ever since then, the colour had reminded me of a once-golden boy.

With catlike eyes that could sense motion, I saw a bright yellow object that flew towards me. I raised an arm in reaction, deflecting it harmlessly, and the tennis ball bounced onto the ground. "Ah, sorry!"

That voice. I turned, and froze. The boy who stood before me was taller than he used to be. His emerald-hair had grown to his shoulders, but he still wore the same white cap as he did in middle school. It was his eyes that made me freeze though. One eye, his right eye, was still my old pale blue. His other eye, the left one, was its original golden colour.

"Chibisuke! Hurry up and get the ball!" another voice called. I looked past the prince to see an older version of him, a man with the same emerald hair, cocky smirk, and strangely-coloured eyes. The only difference was that the man's right eye was gold, while his left was blue.

It was then that I understood. Even before the accident, I had been blind. I saw only with my eyes, becoming ignorant of everything else around me. Smells, sounds, tastes, feels, they all meant nothing compared to my vision. I had even remained ignorant of others around me, of what lay beyond their surface appearance. I had never realized the feelings that the little prince had held for me, nor did I recognize the feelings that I had developed for the little prince in return. The reason why he had sacrificed so much for me had been in front of me all this time. I just couldn't see it until now.

For the heart could always see what the eyes could not.

The boy before me yelled back at the stranger, tilting his head over his shoulder to look at me before he ran off. His lips quirked into his trademark smirk. "Mada mada dane, Fuji-sempai."