Disclaimer: I might be Japanese, but that doesn't mean I'm any closer to owning PoT than the thousands of screaming Japanese fangirls.

Rating: PG

Warnings: Pointless humour/borderline crack, one case of strong language.

Summary: Another Rikkai drabblething. POKE, NO POKE BACKS! Crack

Author's notes: Another Rikkai drabblething. You don't have to have read the ones that come before this, but it might help a bit. The drabblething list goes:

Times of Stress

Passing the Time

How to ask out Marui Bunta

Four Days Later

October Ice

Because I Love You

Evil

Further Nonsense

Dear Diary

Kind of… the same

100 Word Challenges

Driver in a Hurry, Child in a Coma

Doctor, doctor!

The Woes of Solomon Grundy

I'm Not Going

The Little Things

He WHAT?!

Operation: Christmas Party

Being Fukubuchou

Dedicated to and requested by KiriharaAkaya. I'm sorry it took so long, m'dear! Hope you like it.

You may or may not wanna read (or re-read) 'Passing the Time' first. :)

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31st December

It's not easy being fukubuchou of one of the most eccentric tennis clubs in the country. It's a lot harder than being buchou, that's for sure. Oh yes. See, Yukimura would have a very hard time if it wasn't for his secret weapon. Well, actually, he has two secret weapons. One is that if you see him smile once, then you'd do almost anything to see it once more, especially if it's directed right at you. The second weapon is that you just know that he's scary deep down, and you really, really don't want to be the first to expose that scariness in case it leaves you traumatised for life. Even Niou doesn't step too far out of line. And Akaya just worships Yukimura anyway.

I, on the other hand, have no such secret weapons. I think Akaya summed it up once, just before our first match of the Nationals. He said, "even though lions are all big and scary and stuff, lynxes are way better at getting what they want. They're prettier too." He'd been comparing all of us to animals, you see, and he said Yukimura was a lynx. As Niou realised, I was the lion.

Sanada sat back thoughtfully in his chair as he read through what he'd written so far in his large, dark brown diary. He'd only been keeping it for a couple of days; Renji had gotten it for him for Christmas.

He cringed as memories of Boxing Day came flooding back. God, that had been a nightmare…

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"Poke, no poke backs!" Marui yelled, attacking Akaya with his finger.

"Be careful!" Sanada snapped, barely catching a small vase as it was knocked off its perch by a flailing Akaya. "We're in a shop, not a park. OW!"

"POKE NO POKE BACKS!" Akaya cheered gleefully, hopping nimbly out of reach as Sanada looked ready to strangle him.

"Kirihara Akaya, stop this game right now," he growled, retrieving his cap from the floor. "You too, Marui. I mean it."

"You're it, fukubuchou! You have to play," said Marui.

"No. We are going to wait quietly for Yukimura and the others to come back."

"If you don't play, then I'll drop this statue," Marui sang, holding out a small china statuette of a swan.

"Don't you dare, Marui Bunta! We're looking after Nishi-san's shop until he gets back. That means no breaking things!"

"Then you have to play," Akaya chimed in, green eyes sparkling.

Sanada made a noise of helpless despair and muttered, "Fine," before reaching out an arm towards Marui. He blinked as Marui stepped out of reach.

"Aw, come on, fukubuchou! You have to try. It's not like we're gonna let you catch us. Right, Akaya?"

"Yep!"

Shutting his eyes, Sanada sighed and started to chase after the pair. He grabbed Akaya as the curly-haired boy tried to turn a slippery corner and poked him once on the shoulder. "There."

Akaya rolled his eyes. "No, you got it wrong. When you catch the person you have to say 'poke, no poke backs'. And the point is that you can't poke back."

"… Huh…?"

"I poked you, so you can't poke me back! You have to catch Maru-chan," Akaya said, pointing to where his boyfriend was grinning at them from behind a glass cabinet.

Sanada rubbed his temple. "Alright, alright." He half-heartedly started to chase Marui round the shop.

Three minutes later, he hadn't caught him, and both Marui and Akaya were pouting at him.

"You're not trying!" Akaya accused.

Sanada gritted his teeth. "It's a children's game involving running which we are playing in a china shop!" he bit out.

Akaya's pout grew more pronounced. "If you don't play properly," he said slowly, mischeif starting to gleam in his eyes, "then I'll tell Mura-buchou that you made me cry."

Sanada froze. "You wouldn't dare."

"Would too!"

Eyes wide, Sanada considered his options. There weren't many. At all.

He sighed. Who knew what Yukimura would say and do if he was told that Sanada had made his favourite kouhai cry?

"Alright, fine," he said resignedly. "I'll play properly. Then will you tell Yukimura that I kept you two happy?"

"Yep, yep," Akaya nodded eagerly.

"And you'll call him Yukimura-buchou, not Mura-buchou."

"He doesn't mind!" Akaya protested stubbornly.

It looked like he wasn't going to win anything today. "Alright, alright…" He raced after Marui again, this time with purpose. If he was going to play, then he was not going to lose to the sugar-slave, damnit!

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"You know, I feel a little sorry for Genichiroh," Yanagi mused. "Perhaps we shouldn't have left him alone with Marui and Akaya."

Yukimura nodded, looking slightly anxious. "Maybe we'd better hurry back. I don't want him to have a nervous breakdown."

Niou snorted. "Fukubuchou's made of stern stuff, Mura. He'll survive."

"Yeah, 'Haru's right," nodded Jackal. "He might have a headache, but that'll be it."

"Mm." Yukimura didn't look convinced, and the group picked up their pace.

They turned the corner of the street that held the shop they'd been asked to look after for the day. There was practically no-one around; it was Boxing Day morning, after all. Most people were probably at home, nursing hangovers.

There was a crashing noise, and Yukimura and Yanagi exchanged worried glances.

"That came from Nishi-san's shop, didn't it?" Yagyuu asked. Agreeing silently, they broke into a run.

The door was open. They skidded to a halt in the doorway, shocked. The interior of the shop was in absolute ruins. Pieces of china and glass lay everwhere, spilling out into the street. As they watched, Sanada pounced onto a breathless Akaya and started prodding him viciously in the stomach. "POKE, NO POKE BACKS!" he yelled.

Then he froze as he saw the shadows of the people in the doorway.

Niou was the first to speak.

"What… the fuck…?" he said slowly.

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I don't think Niou will ever let me forget that. Myself, Marui and Akaya have to work under Nishi-san until we've paid back all the damage we did. Whoever said that you should listen to your inner child was clearly an idiot.

Damn, but it's not easy being fukubuchou.

-Genichiroh-

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Sandy: Like I said, I hope you like it:)

Please, please review. Or I'll tell Mura that you made Akaya cry. x333

Until next time!