Disclaimer: I own very little.

A/N: And again crack-Dan pairings! This time, I got prompted by jumpdiva. The prompt was, "MizukiDan, data battle -- involving fashion!" As I've never written Mizuki before, he may be OOC, and for this, I apologize.

Purple Is the New Black

"So it's you, then."

"Huh?" The Yamabuki tennis club paused their practice, turning to look at the source of the sharp voice. It turned out to be a young boy with dark curly hair and a very, very purple shirt, standing by the courts.

"St. Rudolph's Mizuki," Sengoku said, walking towards the unexpected visitor. "Who is what and what does it have to do with you?"

"This kid." Mizuki pointed a finger at someone. Turning his gaze to the direction of the pointing digit, Sengoku saw a rather confused Dan looking at Mizuki with wide brown eyes.

"Ah… excuse me, but what do you want with Dan-kun?" There was no mistaking the protective intent in Sengoku's eyes as he stepped on the invisible line between the two dark-haired boys. "I hardly think he has any business with your team."

"Not my team, no, but with me." Mizuki smirked in a decidedly unkind way that made the Yamabuki players exchange wary gazes. That expression didn't promise anything good, definitely not when it was directed at their smallest and youngest member.

"Ah, I'm afraid I've never even met you desu," Dan said, blinking in confusion as he walked closer, stepping to Sengoku's side. The fuku-buchou immediately took another step, half hiding him from Mizuki's line of sight. Apparently he'd heard enough bad things about the dark-haired manager not to trust the wire fence to be enough of a protection.

"Someone was actually daring enough to claim that your team's data player is better than me. And you are obviously the data player here." Mizuki pointed at the notebook Dan was holding, his other hand fiddling with his curly hair. "Of course, such a claim cannot be true."

Sengoku grinned, now, relaxing a bit even if he still didn't leave his protective place. "Is that it? Then, sorry, that someone was right." He winked at Mizuki, flashing what was not-so-secretly dubbed Sengoku's I'm More Annoying Than You Grin. "Whether it's about managing or data, Dan-kun is obviously better than you."

"Don't say that, Sengoku-senpai desu," Dan muttered, flushing a bit. However, Mizuki didn't seem to even notice him now, his gaze snapping back to Sengoku.

"Fine. Then, I shall prove my superiority! I challenge your little data player to a battle!" This announcement was accompanied with a dramatic hand-gesture.

"A battle?" Now, Minami finally chose to step up, too, sounding somewhat worried. "I'm afraid I can't allow anything like that."

"Oh, do not be ridiculous." Mizuki chuckled. "I meant, of course, a battle of data." He looked Dan directly in the eye. "Do you accept?"

Here, Dan proved his skill of actual consideration by frowning. "What kind of data do you mean?"

"Ah, that is quite simple." Mizuki tossed his hair in a somewhat flamboyant gesture. "The kind of data that most accurately proves one's skills of observation and analyzing." He smirked triumphantly. "I mean, of course, fashion."

This prompted quite some laughter from the Yamabuki team. It wasn't until Mizuki had glared at them for a while that they realized it was probably not meant to be a joke.

"And the battle would happen how, exactly?" asked Sengoku. Now that he had confirmed Mizuki had no obvious ill intent towards his youngest player, he seemed much more relaxed and actually somewhat amused at the curly-haired manager's suggestion. "You throw clothes at each other?"

"Oh, don't be ridiculous. Of course not." Mizuki looked at Sengoku in what was probably supposed to be a condescending fashion. "Rather, I suggest we each compose an outfit and the one with the more fashionable one wins. The latest trends! Colour coordination! What would require more of one's data-handling skills?"

Dan blinked once again. He looked at Mizuki's shirt. Then at his expression. Then again at his shirt.

Finally, he nodded, rather slowly. "...Okay desu."

"Great!" Sengoku grinned, clapping his hands together. "For such a contest, we need judges, correct?"

"I would imagine so." Mizuki raised his eyebrows. "Is there anyone you would suggest?"

"Well, if this is indeed to be a battle about fashion," Sengoku said, apparently close to laughing aloud but bravely keeping up a somewhat straight face, "then the judges should be women, right?"

"Oh, please." Mizuki snorted. "And you know how many women aside from your mother, exactly?"

There was a moment of silence. Every pair of eyes in the hearing range was turned towards Mizuki. Finally, it was Muromachi broke the silence.

"Sengoku-senpai dated five girls," he said very seriously, "during the last week alone."

Mizuki blinked. He looked at Sengoku. Then he blinked again. "…Well. Fine. But the judges had better not be biased even if you are the one picking them."

"Oh, I shall make sure the biases are balanced, if there are any." Sengoku flashed Mizuki his most charming grin. "I'm confident Dan-kun wouldn't need such dirty tricks to win."

Mizuki apparently didn't deem this worth of a response. He just snorted and turned to point a finger at Dan. "Any requests for time and place?"

"Um…" Dan blinked. "How about right here? At least neither of us can get lost desu" His smile suggested he didn't expect himself to do so, at the very least. "And is next Sunday good enough for you?"

"Very well." Mizuki twirled a lock of hair between his fingers. "Prepare to admit your failure, then! Nfu." And, without another word, he turned around and marched away from the Yamabuki grounds.

Mizuki's departure was followed by another bout of silence. Finally, Dan turned to look at Sengoku, looking a bit confused. "He wasn't serious… was he?"

Sengoku sighed. "Yes, Dan-kun. I'm rather afraid he was."

Dan sighed. This whole challenge thing was, in his opinion, somewhat ridiculous. However, he had accepted, and now he had to do his best. Now, he could have cared less whether he won or lost if it was a battle about actual data - after all, failure in such a thing would have only meant he had to work harder - but fashion? Against someone who dressed like Mizuki did? Sengoku-senpai would never let him live it down.

Now, the problem was, he didn't really care much about clothes. To him it was more important that the clothes felt comfortable than what they looked like - and even that could be forgotten for sentimental reasons, as was the case with his dear headband. However, he was sure even he could dress better than Mizuki.

Which was why he now found himself in a clothing store, browsing through all the different styles and fashions available.

One shirt in particular caught his eye, and he drew it out of the rack for a closer look. He didn't pay much attention as someone came to his side, taking another shirt of the same kind for inspection. After a moment, though, he sighed, returning the shirt to the rack with a muttered comment of, "Too flashy desu."

At the exact same moment, he heard a murmur of, "Far too plain," as the person next to him returned a larger piece of the very same shirt to the rack.

The voice was familiar, Dan noted, even if the opinion was ridiculous. Curious, he looked up to the person next to him.

Mizuki Hajime looked back.

They both stepped away from the other as though burned. "Well, well, well," Mizuki drawled. "Shopping for our contest, are you, Dan-kun?"

"Oh, no, just idly browsing desu," Dan lied. He wasn't very good at such a thing, but hopefully good enough to fool Mizuki. "What about yourself, Mizuki-san?"

"Me? Anything else, nfu. It's not like I have to look further than my own closet to find the latest trends."

"Maybe looking there's why you always look like you've just stepped out of the closet desu," muttered Dan under his breath. Honestly, there were many obvious cases of overly gay-ish clothing in the middle school tennis world, but he was yet to find anyone as bad as Mizuki. As Sengoku had rather cheerfully commented after Mizuki's visit, the only way he could look any more flaming was setting his clothes on fire.

"Excuse me, what was that?" Mizuki asked sharply. Dan simply shook his head.

"Oh, nothing that would interest you, I'm sure, Mizuki-san desu. Do ignore my non-data murmurs desu."

"Indeed." Mizuki smirked, fiddling with his hair once again. "You already must be aware you can never match my amounts of data when it comes to style, so whatever petty insults you deal me are meaningless."

"Whatever you'd prefer thinking, Mizuki-san desu." With a minute bow, Dan hurried away, somewhat glad to get away from such self-centred-ness. Mizuki obviously considered himself much better than he actually was.

However, Dan couldn't help but wonder just how lonely such a way of living must have been.

Sengoku's grin was so big it threatened to split his face in two. "Good news, Dan-kun. I have arranged judges for that contest of yours!"

Dan made a face. "Not so sure it's good news desu," he muttered under his breath, then said a bit louder, "Well, who are they?"

Sengoku smiled. "Well, first off, Tachibana An. And before you ask, no, she isn't holding a grudge against Yamabuki for winning due to that car accident... I think."

"Sounds promising desu." Dan sighed. "And the others?"

"Well..." Sengoku grinned. "You hardly would protest at Yuuki-chan, would you?"

"I wouldn't, of course desu," Dan replied, smiling for a moment before he frowned. "I'm fairly sure Mizuki-san will, though desu. She's hardly unbiased, now is she?"

"Maybe not," Sengoku admitted. "But that's okay! See, your ever so lucky fuku-buchou has gotten even more lucky. Do you know whom I got to be the third judge?"

"If you say it's your sister, you're going to leave to look for new judges right away," Muromachi commented dryly from the side. "Seriously, Sengoku-senpai. Is it that hard to find impartial judges?"

"Oh, Panda-kun, if only you knew," Sengoku sighed. "Everyone who's ever met Mizuki for five minutes seems to be biased in Dan-kun's favour. Well, not everyone, but close enough. But, we're lucky!" He grinned widely again. "You see, Fuji Yuuta's one of Mizuki's players. Seigaku's Fuji's little brother, you know?" As Dan nodded, he went on, "Well, luckily the Fuji brothers also have a big sister! She'll surely be biased in her brother's manager's favour, right? So all in all, the judges are unbiased in average!"

"Not necessarily desu," Dan pointed out. "It's not like your sister likes Akutsu-senpai even though you were his fuku-buchou, right?"

"Well... right, I guess." Sengoku blinked. "But... how about I ask Yuuki-chan not to let Mizuki know she knows you?"

Now, Dan put a hand over his eyes, sighing. Muromachi just shook his head. "Whatever you want, Sengoku-senpai. It can't become any more of a mess no matter what you do, I'm sure."

Sengoku looked at him with wide eyes. "What do you mean, Panda-kun? And after I worked so hard to find willing judges! I'd like to see you doing better!"

"Oh, whatever desu." Dan sighed. "Just... check it with Mizuki-san before Sunday, okay? I don't want him to throw a tantrum desu..."

Sengoku blinked. "Wow, that's an unusually mean wording coming from you, Dan-kun. How come?"

Dan made a face. "I ran into Mizuki-san yesterday desu."

"...Point taken."

"Akutsu Yuuki?" Sengoku could hear the thoughtful tone of Mizuki's voice even over the phone. "I've never heard of her. Is she related to that berserk player of yours, by any chance?"

"She's his mother," Sengoku said. "Akutsu hasn't played for months now, though."

"Very well. Such a monster's mother hardly has any sense of fashion, but then, neither does your little Dan-kun. Nfu." Mizuki was very, very fortunate they were only talking over the phone, Sengoku decided. "I accept your choice of judges, then. We'll meet to confirm my victory on Sunday."

Not likely, thought Sengoku, if Mizuki made such comments in the hearing of the judges. Yuuki-chan was a very sweet woman, but she didn't take lightly any insults targeted at those she cared about. And Dan just happened to be quite high on that list.

Of course, had Akutsu been present, he would have been forced to beat Mizuki simply out of principle. Sengoku decided he wouldn't have tried to stop the delinquent.

There were surprisingly many people on the Yamabuki courts the next Sunday. Apparently the word had gone around. Most of Fudoumine's team were present, and Fuji Syusuke had apparently dragged half of Seigaku's along. St. Rudolph's team was well represented, as was Yamabuki by default. A few others seemed to have wandered along, too.

All of this made Dan very nervous, apparently. He was hiding in the tennis club's changing rooms, peeking out of the window.

"I'm not going out there desu," he muttered. "Everyone'll just laugh at me desu!"

"Oh, come on, Dan-kun," Sengoku chuckled. "Your competition is Mizuki. You'll probably be declared the height of fashion!"

"That's not very nice, Sengoku-senpai," Dan reprimanded half-heartedly. He tugged at his sleeve before pushing some hair from his face. Oh, he missed his headband.

"Think positively," Muromachi commented. "At least Hyoutei's players aren't here."

"Shut up, Panda-kun. You'll jinx it," Sengoku hissed. He then glanced at his watch. "Okay, it's almost noon. Didn't you agree on that?"

"Yes desu." Dan bit his lip. "But I don't see Mizuki-san anywhere desu..."

"I hope he doesn't come," muttered Minami. "All this is a bad idea altogether. And besides -"

"Hey, Mizuki arrived!" shouted a freshman, running into the club room. "And you won't belive what he's wearing!"

Sengoku grinned, ignoring his captain as compeltely as everyone else did. "Okay, this I'll have to see," he said, rushing outside along with everyone else at his heels.

Mizuki was, somewhat unsurprisingly, dressed in purple. Entirely purple. His shirt was so shiny it almost hurt the viewer's eyes, and the pants clung to his legs in a way that might have been sexy if not for the overuse of glitter. There were little pink roses pictured in a somewhat random pattern on his shirt.

"...Damn," muttered Muromachi, blinking in disbelief. "Hey, Sengoku-senpai? Please tell me I'm seeing wrong and that isn't a pink feather boa around his neck..."

Sengoku couldn't answer. He was too busy laughing.

At the bench where the judges were seated, Tachibana An leant towards Akutsu Yuuki. "Are you sure negative points aren't allowed?" she asked quietly.

"I'm afraid not," Yuuki sighed. "At least I can honestly say I'm not letting any kind of a bias interfere with my judge's duties."

In the end, it turned out Dan really shouldn't have worried. Like An later pointed out, he probably would have won as long as he was wearing clothes, and the fact his clothes didn't look bad at all was only a bonus. The still very amused gathering of people soon turned into an improptu tennis tournament, Sengoku rather cheerfully coming up with tournament tables on the fly. Dan, despite changing into his tennis uniform, soon found himself wandering off to the side.

Mizuki wasn't that hard to find, in the end. The insulted manager had retired to sitting at a secluded spot some way away from the courts. He, too, had changed clothes into a somewhat less blinding combination.

"Mizuki-san?" Dan asked carefully. As the other didn't tell him to go away, he approached carefully. "Ah... those clothes suit you much better, you know desu." This was the truth. Of course, almost anything would have been better than Mizuki's "trendy" outfit, but these clothes, however gay they may have been, actually suited Mizuki. In a somewhat flashy manner, yes, but still.

"Oh, be quiet, child." Mizuki glared at nothing in particular. "It seems nobody here understands true style."

"That's the problem with fashion data, you know desu." Dan smiled minutely, carefully sitting down next to the other boy. "No matter how much data you gather, in the end it is always subjective how you or others view style desu. What someone finds fashionable may be horrible in the other's eyes, right?"

"Apparently so." Mizuki sighed, lazily fiddling with his usual strand of hair. "There's no other explanation for my loss, at the very least!"

Dan didn't comment on this, merely smiled. "You probably should have challenged me to a contest in some kind of data that isn't so subjective desu," he said after a momentary silence.

"Perhaps." Mizuki smirked. "For example, dating data."

"Huh?" Dan blinked, turning his head to look at Mizuki. "What do you mean? I mean, if it's statistics about who dates who or something -"

"Oh, no, nothing that unstable. Such things vary daily, after all." Mizuki's smirk turned somewhat triumphant. "For instance... do you even know how to kiss, Dan-kun?"

Dan's eyes widened. "Um... well desu..." he started, only to be silenced by the older boy.

Mizuki wore cherry lip gloss, Dan noted.

As Mizuki drew away, Dan stared at him. "Why did you do that?" he asked, somewhat startled by the sudden action.

"Nfu. Isn't it obvious?" Mizuki smirked. "I had to prove my superiority in this kind of data at least, didn't I?"

"Um... if you wanted to show your better data, wouldn't it be a better idea to try and tell the results of the tournament that's going on? That's your specialty anyway, isn't it?"

Mizuki's eyebrows rose, whether at Dan's question or the fact he actually knew Mizuki's preferred way of using data, Dan couldn't tell for sure. Then, however, he smirked. "All the better to distract you with, I'm sure."

Dan smiled a bit. "Too bad I recover from distractions easily desu"

"Is that so?" Mizuki leant in again. Dan couldn't help but notice he hadn't moved very far away in the first place. "Surely my magnificence is enough to distract you again..."

Mizuki twirled a strand of hair. It wasn't his own.