This is being co-written alongside Kumathewolfalchemist, so give her some credit if you're reading this. Can you tell the differences between our writing styles?
Haha, I was the one who suggested we do this.
Disclaimer: Kumathewolfalchemist and I do not own POT, but we do own the characters Kuma and Mochi
________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 1: The Joys of Running
[Seishun Academy]
Eiji was laying on a bench. He was about to doze off when he heard the approaching footsteps of Syusuke Fuji. "So…what are you up to?" he asked the red-head.
"It's a nice day out. I wish we didn't have practice today. Dang it, Tezuka! I want to have a picnic!" Eiji complained. Fuji raised one eyebrow at his friend curiously. "I go crazy on nice days," Eiji explained apologetically.
"I've noticed," Fuji replied. He sighed. "We should probably be heading to the courts."
"NO WAY! You'll have to drag me off this bench!" threatened Eiji. Fuji did not wish to see his friend suffer from Inui juice. The last time it happened, he had almost died. That stuff was nasty. So, he hoisted Eiji over his shoulder and began a leisurely walk, while Eiji let out a slow moan.
________________________________________________________________________
Momoshiro came into practice happy. "Look what I just bought at Target!" he exclaimed. Arms outstretched, he presented a bowl-like contraption to the team.
"What is it?" Takashi inquired as he took the device from Momo.
"A salad spinner," he beamed proudly.
"And it does what, exactly?" Tezuka asked, getting annoyed now, Ryoma glanced up, now curious as to what everyone was looking at.
"You put wet lettuce in it, and it dries it. You push this button, and the inner bowl spins, causing water to fly off the leaves and air onto them, forcing the lettuce to dry," Momo explained.
"What happens if you put a tennis ball in it?" Eiji's eyes were lit up as he thought out loud. By now, Ryoma had become interested in the salad spinner, and even Kaido had wandered over from his tree.
"I dunno, let's try it!" Momo had now gotten the urge to put things other than salad into the salad spinner. Oishi grabbed a tennis ball out of a nearby basket and tossed it to Eiji, who handed it to Momoshiro.
"WAIT!" cried Inui. Everyone looked at him oddly. "This will be good for my data on the properties of tennis balls! Let me get my notebook first!" Momo dropped the ball into the bowl and waited for Inui's return. He put the lid on, and pressed the button on top.
The tennis ball spun violently around and around the bowl. As it slowed, Eiji, hit the button a few more times, Kaido watched with an evil smirk on his face, Inui scribbled furiously in his notebook, Eiji had bright eyes, Oishi and Takashi stared with curious expressions, Fuji seemed entertained, Ryoma stood with a blank expression and watched, and Tezuka was now irritated beyond belief.
The tennis ball had a hypnotic tug on all the players, surprisingly even on Ryoma and Tezuka. Watching the ball helped get rid of some of Tezuka's stress, but watching his tennis team slack off was no help. "Laps!" he shouted suddenly, "Then you'll run a three mile cross country course!" The entire team glanced at him nervously. "You too, Inui! Anyone who fails will have TWO servings of juice!
"And you!" he pointed a finger at Mochi and Kuma, two second year girls on the regulars team, "You'll be running the same course as the boys!"
"What?!" cried Mochi, "What the heck is all this about? We just got back from cleaning du—" she was abruptly cut off by a bark from Tezuka.
"You heard me! Laps, then a three mile cross-country course! This is the result of your teammates slacking off." The two girls glared at the boys, who now were all looking in separate directions innocently. "Follow Oishi, he'll show you what to do. Now get going!" Oishi stared at Tezuka wide-eyed.
"I have to run this, too?" he whined.
"Of course! You were slacking off, too! Go!" Oishi shot a quick, shocked glance at his captain before turning around to run laps around the courts.
"Onee-chan—" Mochi tried to plead with her older brother.
"Even though you're my sis, I can't let you out of this, now go, or you'll drink Inui juice!" Mochi grimaced and followed after the rest of the team. She caught up to where Kuma was running alongside Eiji.
"What happened?" Kuma demanded. Eiji explained the situation that led to this torture.
"A salad spinner?" Mochi asked skeptically when he was done explaining.
"Yep, we all got distracted by it.."
"Geez, you guys must never be in the kitchen or something. I have one, and I know how it works. I probably wouldn't have made a big deal of it," Mochi rolled her eyes.
"But have you ever put a tennis ball in one?" Eiji smiled.
"Well, no…" Mochi responded.
"Then you have yet to see the amazingness of the salad spinner!"
Kuma just looked at Mochi and shrugged. After 20 laps, Oishi decided it ws time to start on the three miles. Kaido grimaced, "Three miles? After this? Nobody'll survive!" The team was breathing heavily already. Eiji was bent over, hands on knees, while Takashi and Ryoma had their hands on their heads, trying to expand their lungs.
"Nobody'll survive two glasses of Inui juice either," contradicted Kuma. Murmurs of agreement spread throughout the team. Even Inui nodded his head, now that the threat of drinking his own terrible concoction loomed over his head.
"Looks like we have no choice," said Fuji in defeat.
"Okay, we'll run it. You've got a four-minute water break. Meet by Kaido's tree when you're done. I'd give you a longer break, but I don't want to test Tezuka's limits," Oishi explained.
"Why my tree, though?" asked Kaido.
"I don't know. It was the first thing I thought of." Kaido hissed and went to his bag.
Mochi and Kuma generously drank their water, then took their shirts off to reveal tank tops underneath. There was no way either of them would run in a t-shirt and warm-up pants—shorts and a tank top were the way to go in this heat. When the girls turned around though, they had a slight shock.
Every single boy on the Seigaku regulars team, even Ryoma, was shirtless.
Kuma's right eye twitched, "Hey Mochi, guess what?"
Mochi looked at Kuma, "What?"
Kuma leaned over and whispered in Mochi's ear, "Fuji's the only one who looks good with his shirt off…well Eiji and Fuji."
Mochi nodded, "I agree, but Ryoma also looks good."
Kuma wrinkled her nose, "That's my bro—"
"Yeah I know, but he's still hot."
"He's a year younger than us!"
"Your point?"
Kuma rolled her eyes, "Never mind."
________________________________________________________________________
The tennis regulars soon began running after their awkward moment. After about a mile Kuma started feeling dizzy and slowed her pace to a walk.
"Kuma, you can't walk!" Mochi called back to her.
Kuma didn't have enough energy to call back so she tried her hardest to catch up.
"Are you going to be okay, Kuma-chan?" Eiji asked.
Kuma's brown eyes were blank and gave off a dead look. Her breathing was hard and stressed. "I think," she paused to breathe, "I'll be fine."
"You don't sound fine," Fuji said.
"My endurance sucks and those twenty laps didn't help," she replied.
Kuma could feel her feet and legs go numb. Mochi sent her friend a worried glance. She knew how bad Kuma's endurance was and didn't think she would last much longer.
"Come on, Kuma! You can do it!" Mochi was running backwards, desperately trying to cheer her best friend on. It wasn't working. Kuma appeared to be on the verge of doing a faceplant in the dirt. And suddenly, she did.
"Kuma!" Mochi shouted. Oishi, who was in the lead, skidded to a halt.
"What's wrong?" he called at them.
"Ehhhh…Can't move. I think I died," moaned Kuma. Eiji tried to help her stand but she just ended up collapsing on Fuji.
"What do we do? We can't just leave her," Momo explained, "Tezuka wouldn't like it."
"Yes we can! Let's leave her!" Mochi yelped happily.
"I…will…strangle you….." Kuma slowly crawled and reached a hand up toward her best friend and then fell back into the dirt.
"Here, I'll carry you," suggested Fuji. He hoisted her onto his back. "Is that okay?
"Yes that's great. Arigatoo, Fuji-kun."
"Good," he flashed her a half-smile.
"Can we go now?" Ryoma asked tiredly.
"Come on guys, let's go," Oishi signaled, "And Mochi," he added.
Lucky Kuma, Mochi thought, I want to ride on Fuji's back. Or Eiji's. Their chests and abs are so nice. I'd never get away with it though. I'm too good of an endurance runner. She caught up to where Ryoma was running. "How's it going?"
"Pretty good, I guess."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that even I hate your brother sometimes."
Everybody does hate Kunimitzu. I'm surprised there isn't a hate club against him. Do you think he'll make us do more after this?"
"As in, what kind of more?"
"More exercises, and some practice matches."
"I'd say yes, but you know him better than I do, so it's your call." The team was now approaching the two-mile post. Kuma, unfortunately, was now delusional, and that meant riding on Fuji's back some more.
Eiji snuck up behind Ryoma and Mochi. He poked Mochi in the sides and yelled, "Kidney rape!" as loud as he could in an attempt to scare her. She rubbed her sides.
"Eiji-senpai, the only thing that achieves is pain in my gut," she whined.
"Sorry, Mochi-kohai," he closed his eyes and gave her a cute smile before running into a tree and falling onto the ground. Mochi rolled her eyes.
"Daijoobu desu?" she asked as she leaned over him. There was a bright red mark forming on his forehead.
"Daijoobu. Wait, stay right there."
"Why?" she asked, while trying to hide the fact that she was in love with his torso at this moment.
"You're pretty good shade. Ow," he muttered as he poked at the lump forming on his forehead. Mochi stuck out her hand to help him up.
"Eiji, only Fuji can walk anywhere with his eyes closed without hitting anything."
"You could have told me that earlier," he complained.
" I thought you knew already. It's common sense!" she criticized.
"If you haven't noticed already, I seem to have none."
Mochi sighed as she helped Eiji up. She did not feel like arguing with him when she still had to run another mile. Both of them looked around. The space they were standing in was completely empty. "Um…where is everyone?" Mochi inquired.
"I don't exactly know. I think they left us behind when I hit the tree."
"Great, now what?" But as she asked this, Mochi saw Eiji climbing the tree he had just smacked his head on. "See them?"
"No. The trees are too thick!" he called down to her, then swung out of the tree. "I guess we just follow the path," he suggested.
"Joy, when will this ever end?" Mochi muttered to herself. The duo began to continue their run through the forest.
________________________________________________________________________
When they reached the team, most of the guys were collapsed from exhaustion. Poor Fuji, who had been carrying Kuma, was lying sprawled out on the ground. "Where were you two?" Oishi demanded from his spot leaning against the three mile marker.
"OH MY GAWD! What in the world happened to your head?!" exclaimed Takashi, who was now pointing at the giant red spot on Eiji's forehead.
"By my calculations, Eiji hit an object at a high—," Inui started.
"Nobody cares!" most of the team shouted at him.
"I ran into a tree," Eiji put simply.
"Yeah, after you kidney raped me!" Mochi added.
"I apologized!"
"I know, but it's the whole reason you hit the tree in the first place," Eiji looked down, embarrassed.
"Well, never mind. You still did your three miles. Take a rest," Oishi gestured at the ground. The pair collapsed happily. After about ten minutes of rest, everybody was feeling better, even Kuma, but Fuji was still on the ground. As the team stretched, Oishi realized he had forgotten something. "Uh-oh," he muttered.
"Nani desu ka?" Kaido asked menacingly.
Oishi stuttered, "W-well, I kind of forgot the course leads AWAY from the school. We have to go another three miles back to get to the school."
"What!?" The entire team shouted, shocked, and in disbelief.
"You mean to say we have to do this course again, except in the other direction?!" Momo exclaimed in horror.
"That's precisely what he seems to be saying," stated Inui.
"This is one moment where I wish you'd shut up," Kuma told him. "I do not want to do another three miles."
"You didn't even do the original three miles," Eiji pointed out.
"Shush. You didn't see anything," she responded, irritated. The air seemed to be hotter as the team started their walk back. Even though the shade seemed endless, the heat was making them all sweat constantly.
Mochi walked alongside Kuma, "I wish we were guys," she said longingly.
"What for?" Kuma asked, now curious.
"Because, we could take our shirts off, instead of having these sweaty tanktops sticking to our skin."
After walking for what seemed like hours in the boiling heat, the team reached the halfway mark. "Take a break," Oishi told them. Everyone took an individual patch of shaded grass and laid in it. Eiji wandered over to where Mochi was spread out and took his spot near her.
After some resting he asked her, "How's your boyfriend? I forgot to ask today."
Mochi was dating the famous Keigo Atobe, the captain of the tennis team at Hyotei Academy. "He's good. I was planning on seeing him later today, but onee-chan ruined my planes."
"It's also part Oishi-kun's fault. He's got us walking an extra three miles. Don't forget that," he said, trying to keep Mochi happy and prevent her from killing her brother. Eiji turned to Kuma, "And how's your love life going?"
Mochi answered for her, "She's good, with crushes on about twenty different guys."
"Not twenty! Less than that!" Kuma defended.
During the conversation, Fuji had wandered over and plopped down next to Eiji and Mochi. "How many guys, then?"
"Um…well…about seven or eight guys," Kuma said, embarrassed and hanging her head in defeat, Eiji and Fuji snickered, while Mochi rolled her eyes and shook her head sadly. Oishi told the regulars to get up and they started the last half of their walk back to Seishun Academy.
________________________________________________________________________
"Finally, we're back," Kuma muttered. She had used what little energy she had regained to walk back.
"That took us three hours and—,"
Kuma cut Inui off, "Inui-senpai I swear if you continue your sentence you will never have children."
"Wow, you're violent," Momo muttered.
"I'm sweaty, tired, and I hate Tezuka, what do you expect?" Kuma replied.
"I think everyone hates my brother," Mochi said with a chuckle.
Kuma scoffed, "Well duh, I mean, he doesn't smile, all he does is bark orders, and he has it out for me, I swear. He's on my most hated list."
"You have a list?" Fuji asked.
"Yep, and Tezuka, Atobe, Sanada, and Gakuto are on it," Kuma stated proudly.
"What do you have against Gakuto?" Momo asked.
"Nothing really, he just sucks."
"And he thinks he's better than me!" Eiji exclaimed, "He thinks he's better at acrobatics!"
Kuma and Mochi gasped dramatically, "NO!"
Eiji…being Eiji didn't really catch on and replied, "Yes!"
"Why are you all standing around?! Fifteen laps!" Tezuka shouted.
Kuma stared at him blankly. "Are you freaking kidding me?"
"No."
"What drugs are you on?"
Tezuka just stared at her, "None, why?"
"Cause you look like a college student, are you on steroids?"
"No, now you have twenty laps, everyone else, fifteen," he said.
"I hate you," Kuma muttered and began to run her laps.
________________________________________________________________________
After practice Kuma and Mochi went to the girls locker room while the boys went to…well, the boys locker room.
"Hey Kuma!" Mochi called.
"What?"
SMACK
"Ow! What the heck was that for?" Kuma complained.
"For putting Keigo-kun on your hate list," Mochi said bluntly.
After changing, Kuma and Mochi began walking toward the school's front gates. "My legs hurt so much!" Kuma complained.
"Ha ha, mine don't!" The youngest Tezuka bragged.
"Urasai!" Kuma shouted, glaring at her friend.
Mochi just laughed and flicked Kuma's forehead.