A Prince of Tennis fanfic. One-shot.
Alpha Pair a.k.a. SanaYuki

Story: Slavedriver

Rating: K+

Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis belongs to Konomi Takeshi.

Author's note: I feel slightly sad... because this is my first fanfic without 'romance' as one of its genres. And the only SanaYuki bit is sort of unimportant. Sigh. Actually, it's important because it's the cause of everything. But at the same time, it's unimportant. Sigh.

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Sanada stood in the centre of the courts with his arms crossed, a silent demand for everyone to pick up the speed. Niou wiped the dripping sweat from his forehead as he ran towards the finishing line, wondering how Sanada completed the hundred laps so quickly; he himself could barely see where he was running due to the heat that was causing his vision to hallucinate. Two metres in front of him, Kirihara let his tongue hang out like a puppy as he completed the last lap, his fists raised into the air as a sign of victory.

When all the regulars finished the hundred laps - with the rest of the club trailing a long way behind - they collapsed onto the ground, panting and sweating. Most of them cursed Sanada quietly until Niou suddenly commented that their fukubuchou looked strangely naked. With that random remark, everyone's fatigue was replaced by curiosity, and they stared at Sanada, their eyes confirming Niou's words.

They all asked themselves, why did Sanada look naked when he was fully clothed?

No one had an answer, nor did they have the time to find one, because Sanada wasted no time and had issued a hundred squats already; apparently, it was punishment for their absent-mindedness. The regulars began the tedious and exhausting process of bending their knees and straightening them again, accusing Sanada of attempted murder as they continued. Luckily, Yukimura arrived - finally - and stopped them from the repetitive emasculation.

"Buchou, why were you so late?!" Kirihara asked as he gulped down a litre of water within seconds.

"I had some... problems," Yukimura answered. But instead of the enthusiastic smile he had every morning, an irritated scowl clouded his face, making him strangely identical to Sanada. "I apologise for my tardiness and to make up for it, 20 laps to start training off!"

No one could believe their ears. They stood with their mouths wide open like goldfishes while they stared at Yukimura with disbelieving eyes. That proved to be a mistake. "Okay, 30 laps then," Yukimura shrugged and began running. "It has to be finished within 20 minutes!" He added, already halfway through a lap.

"How does he run that fast?" Kirihara was too stunned to move. "My fastest time was 51.4 seconds for one lap..."

"Ba-ka-ya That is why he's buchou despite that he's a girl!" Niou laughed as he began the endurance sprint. "If you don't start soon, you're not going to make it!"

They ran and they ran. Seconds flew by and soon only two minutes was left. All the regulars - with the exception of Sanada who finished first, Yukimura who finished second and Yanagi who finished third - still had another 9 laps to go. "What's their average speed per lap?" Yukimura enquired without any sing of physical fatigue.

"Around 49 seconds per lap at the beginning. But since the tenth lap, their speed dropped to about 50.5 seconds per lap." Yanagi took in deep breaths as he reported.

Yukimura nodded and turned to the frantically running regulars. "Hurry up! Move your legs! Akaya, a turtle could overtake you at the speed you're running! Niou, a fish out of water could beat you to the finish line!"

Everyone's speed increased immediately at the insulting comments and when the stopwatch hit 31 minutes and 16 seconds, all the regulars had finished. Each and every one of them - with the exception of the Sannin Bakemono, of course - sprawled across the ground, sweating and trying to recover from the hellish sprint. "Next, 20 squats for going over time!"

"Buchou," Kirihara complained, "fukubuchou already made us do that!"

"You get an extra 20 for talking. And think about it," Yukimura paused meaningfully as the regulars began squatting once again, "if you ran faster, you would have avoided the squats."

"Come on! We were running at approximately 50 seconds per lap! Even the Seigaku regulars need around 55! We're 5 seconds faster than they are!" Niou whined.

"Yes." Yukimura's face darkened. "Then why did you lose to them in the national's finals?"

Niou did not answer and received 20 extra squats for the silence.

"There is a tournament next month, and Seigaku is entering. I don't care what we do, but we're going to win!" Yukimura shouted with absolute determination gleaming in his eyes.

"Chill..." Marui muttered, finishing his 20 squats.

"Don't talk! Do another 20!" Yukimura snapped at Marui. "And lose the gum!" He added. Marui opened his mouth to protest, but before he could, Yukimura said, "Don't tell me you are eating gum to boost your sugar level! You're eating sugar-free gum anyway!" Marui sulked, biting his lips to prevent himself from swearing out loud, and swallowed his favourite green apple flavoured gum.

When everyone finished their squats, Yukimura gave them individual drills to work on. Kirihara ran towards Court D - under slavedriver-san's orders - thanking kami-sama that he was well away from Court A, where Yukimura was. Following Yukimura's instructions, he began a backhand rally with Jackal. The atmosphere was more comfortable now, despite the unsettling air of curiosity over Sanada's naked appearance.

"Niou! Step with your RIGHT foot when you're volleying backhand!" Kirihara cringed as he heard Yukimura's booming voice coming from Court B. Nevertheless, he was glad that it was not him who Yukimura was observing.

"Akaya..." Yukimura's voice suddenly sounded extremely close to Kirihara, causing him to miss an easy pass. Kirihara turned around and saw Yukimura leaning on the fence, clearly unimpressed. "Your footwork is horrible. It makes you look like a headless chicken when you run. It's disgusting." Yukimura said and walked off towards Court E. Kirihara sniffled and wondered why his buchou was so aggravated. His intuition told him that it was something to do with the stupid Sanada-fukubuchou and his apparent nakedness.

In the meantime, Yukimura observed Yanagi and Sanada's game on Court B. It was an almost perfect game. There was not much Yukimura could disapprove of, but his irritation made him determined to elaborate his criticism on their minute errors. "Renji, the ball was way off the sweet spot."

"Seiichi, I hate to say so, but it was only 0.353cm off." Yanagi shouted as he drove the ball crosscourt.

"That makes all the difference," Yukimura said bluntly. "Sanada, you right foot is pointing the wrong way. It's about 30 degrees too much towards the net." He added as Sanada chased Yanagi's crosscourt shot. Sanada did not reach it in time, his racquets millimetres from the ball as it zoomed past.

"See? If your foot was positioned properly, you would have reached it," Yukimura said as he shook his head dramatically to show Sanada's his disappointment. "You can do that footwork drill 50 times before you go home."

"Yes sir," Sanada answered obediently in a gloomy voice.

"Good. Now, I want to see how much your FuuRinKaInZanRai has improved. Renji, you just use whatever shots to return it," Yukimura instructed. "Start."

Yanagi served and Sanada returned it with Fuu. Yanagi hit it back with Yamaitachi but it was caught before it changed direction in midair by Sanada's Rai. After winning this point, Sanada won the next few along with demonstrations of all the individual techniques in FuuRinKaInZanRai. "Stop, I've seen enough," Yukimura said coldly, standing up from the coach's bench. "Sanada, a private word with you."

Sanada followed his buchou off the court and towards the equipment shed. All the regulars had stopped - taking a break while Yukimura was not watching - and was gazing curiously at Sanada and Yukimura's conversation. It was obvious that Yukimura was yelling at Sanada, whose head was hung low as he received the cruel criticisms. Yukimura waved his arms in the air as he told Sanada his opinion of FuuRinKaInZanRai.

Kirihara gazed in fear when Yukimura took Sanada's racquet from his hand and began demonstrating the errors Sanada made. The second year ace knew that even Sanada's patience for Yukimura had a limit, especially when his skills were doubted and questioned. Kirihara's fear was confirmed when Sanada shook his head firmly, snatching the racquet back and demonstrated Fuu. "It's my technique!" Sanada's bellow could be heard throughout the tennis courts.

"Too bad you can't use it properly. And if you speak once more before I finish, it's 10 extra laps every day for the rest of the month," Yukimura threatened. Sanada fell silent. "Anyway, your grip is too loose for a technique like Ka."

"What?! I'm gripping at 62.5kg right now!" Sanada retorted.

"That's another 10 laps. And there is no way your grip is that strong when you're using Ka, so shut up. The physical tests result don't mean anything if you can't apply it," Yukimura said. "Next, your Rai... I told you to work on balancing the stress on each knee, didn't I? Or are you trying to destroy your knees again?"

"No..."

"Another 10."

"You asked the question!"

"10 more. Haven't you heard of rhetorical questions?" Yukimura rolled his eyes. "Next, your In is so predictable! It is supposed to be unpredictable like the shadows, not predictable like the shadows."

"It's just you..." Sanada muttered under his breath.

"Did you say something? That'll be a total of 40 laps extra every day." There was a pause. "That's all for now, you are dismissed," Yukimura said and walked back to the courts, punishing every one who stopped practicing with 20 push-ups.

Morning training ended half an hour later and as the regulars gathered around Yukimura for a brief evaluation, Sanada sprinted around the courts to finish his extra laps. "Buchou," Kirihara asked as Sanada ran past them again, "why were you late this morning?"

"If you know the reason why Sanada's cap is missing, I'll tell you why," Yukimura said, stretching his calf muscles.

"Fukubuchou's cap is missing?!" The whole team exclaimed in chorus and turned to look at Sanada. Indeed, his cap was missing.

"That's why he looked so naked!" Marui gasped. "We can see his hair!"

"I thought he had a bald spot and wore the cap to cover it up," Kirihara commented as he noted how thick Sanada's hair was.

"You've seen him without a cap, haven't you?" Yukimura asked, wondering how it was even possible for the regulars to overlook Sanada's missing cap. "He doesn't wear it during class."

"Well, the only time I see fukubuchou out of class is when he accuses me of flooding the girls' toilets - not that I do - and chases me around the school. I wouldn't have time to look at him while I'm running away, would I?" Kirihara rolled his eyes at Yukimura's stupidity.

"I've finished," Sanada informed Yukimura as he rejoined the regulars fifteen minutes later, oblivious to the regulars' curious glare at his hair.

Yukimura nodded and instructed the regulars to form a neat circle around him. "Sanada, would you like to tell the team what you did this morning?" He asked politely, yet demanding.

"Um... I woke up and meditated. Then I practiced kendo for a while..."

"NO! I meant at school," Yukimura said. "Behind the pear tree."

Sanada looked quizzically at Yukimura. The rest of the team wondered what Yukimura was referring to, assuming that it was something destructive, like exploding ball machines or sticking gum into bicycle locks. After a minute of awkward silence, Sanada shook his head again, confirming that he did not go near the tree at all.

"I'll have to share this with everyone then," Yukimura sighed wistfully. "WHO WERE YOU KISSING?!" The explosion was abrupt and scared everyone a step back.

The regulars blinked confusedly as Sanada choked. "What?" Sanada demanded when he could finally breathe and speak properly. "I've NEVER kissed anyone!!"

"I saw it with my eyes," Yukimura hissed, eyes narrowed dangerously. Sanada did not speak and the regulars dared not make a noise.

Seconds and minutes passed. No one spoke.

Finally, Yukimura took the initiative and said, laps until Sanada tells the truth. They all began to run, not daring to disobey Yukimura, hoping fervently that Sanada would just hurry up and confess. They ran, (following the cap-less boy) and ran, (sweating and tripping) and ran. Meanwhile, Yukimura simply stood in the centre of the courts, watching amusedly at the regulars like a child entertained by jesters and magicians.

Ten laps went by.

Twenty laps went by.

Thirty laps went by.

And at lap thirty-two, Kirihara gave up.

"Buchou!" Kirihara crawled over to Yukimura's feet. "I don't know how Sanada-fukubuchou's cap went missing, but I know what may have happened." He gasped for air and took Jackal's water bottle, pouring the water down his shirt. The other regulars, seeing their defeated kouhai, gave up as well. They all collapsed at Yukimura's feet, struggling for breath as they begged their buchou for mercy.

"Tell me," Yukimura demanded.

"It was Niou-senpai!" Kirihara pointed his finger at the half-unconscious trickster. "He used that weird technique to change into fukubuchou this morning and kissed a random girl who happened to walk past the courts! He probably stole the cap!"

"Ohh..." Yukimura titled his head slightly and grinned widely.

"TARUNDORU!" Sanada interrupted Yukimura with a roar. "Give me back my cap, Niou Masaharu!"

"I..."

"Niou, give Sanada back his cap," Yukimura said softly with lurking authority. "Now."

"Okay, okay," Niou said and from the inside of his extremely sweaty shirt, pulled out a sweat-drenched cap. Sanada scowled and snatched it from Niou's hand.

"Tarundoru!"

Yukimura sighed. "I can't believe I accidentally made all of you run so much," he said sardonically, "but to make up for it, Niou can run ten laps on behalf of each of you for the rest of the week."

"WHAT?!" Niou cried. "I have to run an extra 70 laps tomorrow?!"

"Yes, and for now, you can run an extra 50," Yukimura said, dismissing the rest of the regulars. "Hurry up before class bell rings!"

Niou took off, cursing like he had never before. Kirihara smirked as he took one last look at his Niou-senpai; even though it was certain that Niou was going to take revenge later, right now, it was worth anything to see the cause of his sufferings to suffer. The rest of the regulars, except for Yagyuu who looked genuinely sympathetic, bawled over laughing and proceeded into the change rooms for a refreshing shower. Everything was all right now, with the mystery of Sanada's nakedness and Yukimura's intent of slave-driving solved.

Outside, Sanada pressed his lips against Yukimura's for a brief second before following the rest of the regulars. Yukimura stood still for a while, replaying that intimate moment over and over again in his mind until he was satisfied. He licked his lips as he walked out of the sun and into the change rooms.

No one saw that secretive butterfly kiss. Except for Niou.

But he was too busy running the remaining 49 laps to make a fuss.

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