An attempt of a Prince Of Tennis humor! Bear with me, please!. Oh, no, they're not mine, not before, not now, not ever… sigh…
Buchou-Sitters We Are!
Part 1
OH MY GOD!
Ryoma looked into their room, but no one's there. The many hastily thrown blankets were everywhere.
"Heee… Buchou's futon's still intact," commented Momo.
"That's because he woke up before we did," said Kaidoh.
"No, he didn't," Ryoma corrected, "That's why we're looking for him, right?"
"His being not on the court doesn't mean he's not woken up, yanno," Momo shook his head.
"Well, he's not here either…" Ryoma stopped as Karupin slid in and ran to where Tezuka's futon was, and meowed softly.
"Karu?"
Ryoma entered the room and walked over to where Karupin is, "What is it, girl?"
"Meow…"
"Oy, Echizen…"
"Fsshhh…"
The three looked at the small lump under the blanket. They looked at each other, blinking.
Momoshiro reached to tugged the blanket off, and they were faced with…
A cute little boy, not more than five years old, curling in blue pajamas top too big for him.
"…"
"…"
"…"
"Meow!"
"Momo-senpai…"
"Echizen…"
"Fsshhhh…"
"Meow meow!"
"Isn't that…"
"Buchou's pajama?"
"Fshhhhhhhhhhh…"
"Meow…"
The three paled as they looked at each other.
A few seconds later…
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"FSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"
"SENPAI-TACHI!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IN HERE!!!!!!! QUICK!!!!!!!!!!"
"MEOWMEOWMEOWMEOWMEOWMEOW!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Startled, the kid woke up abruptly, and came face to face with three freaking out boys.
"Oops…"
"Uh-oh…"
"Fshhh…"
"Meow?"
The kid, being one so young as that, predictably reacted as someone as young as he would.
He cried.
Oh, no, he didn't cry softly, he didn't sniffle, he didn't cry gracefully. He damn straight WAILED.
"What the…" Oishi, the first one who skidded into the room before the other regulars, asked uncertainly.
Kawamura's jaw dropped.
Eiji paled.
Inui corrected his glasses.
Fuji's eyes flew opened in shock.
The kid, upon seeing even more people in the room, cried even louder.
The boys were rooted.
One, though, managed to control himself quite remarkably, and pulled himself out of his state of shock and walked over to sit in front of the boy, reaching out to pat his head softly.
"There there… it's okay… sorry if we surprise you, it's okay, don't cry… shhhhh, it's okay…"
Gradually, the wail turned into sniffle, and the kid looked at them, still a little scared.
Fuji pulled out a tissue and wiped the boy's face, "My name's Shusuke. What's yours?"
The kid looked at the tensai who was still caressing his hair and blinked once.
Twice.
"Or do you want me to call you chibi?"
He scrunched his little face in disgust.
"Well, I have to call you something…"
"Meow…"
Karupin sidled over onto the kid's lap and licked his fingers.
"That's Karupin. I think she likes you."
The kid petted Karupin, who purred softly.
"Do you like cats?"
The kid nodded.
"You can play with Karupin if you tell me your name."
The kid looked at Fuji, who simply smiled disarmingly, albeit having his blue eyes open.
"Kunimitsu…"
"What's that?" Fuji's eyes widened.
"Ore… Kunimitsu."
"Oh…"
The other boys looked ready to drop.
"What's all this yelling about?! And who cried?!" A bellowing voice was heard and all turned to look at a fuming Ryuzaki Sumire.
The result of the shout was, of course…
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH………………"
Sighing, the tensai simply took the boy, still dressed in the overlarge pajama top, into his arms and cuddled him close, "Oh, hush now, Kuni-chan… Oniichan will take good care of you… so hush now, okay?"
The cry died down, but the boy gripped Fuji's regular jersey tightly, trying to hide himself.
Sumire looked shocked.
"Fuji… who…"
"Oh? This is Kunimitsu-chan. We found him sleeping in buchou's bunk," said Fuji, carefully stressing the words 'this', 'chan', and 'buchou'.
Sumire's eyes widened, "Masaka…"
"Oi… Fuji… that's…" Oishi seemed to have found his voice.
"I'm going to bath Kuni-chan first, then we can all have breakfast, kay?"
Without another word, Fuji swept out and called the ichinen trio and the two ichinen girls as he went to the bathroom.
Silence.
"Ne, Kuni-chan, how old are you?"
"Five."
"Five? Oh, my, you're a big boy!"
"Uh-hm, I am!"
"And where're your parents, Kuni-chan?"
"…"
"Your house?"
"…"
sniffle
"Oh, no, don't cry anymore… we'll find your family. For the mean time, why don't you stay with us?"
"Us?"
"Yes. Us, the Seigaku Regulars."
"Se-i-ga-ku Re-gyu-ra?"
"Hai. Seigaku Regulars. Me and the boys you've seen earlier."
"…"
"Don't worry. They were only shocked. They're nice, really. One of them, Momo, can eat 15 burgers."
"FIFTEEN?"
"Hai, and Ryoma is Karupin's owner. Kaidoh is the one with bandanna, he always says fshhhhh…"
"Fsshhhh…"
giggle
"Yeah, like that. Now close your eyes, I'm rinsing the shampoo off."
"Okay!"
"Good, we're finished. Now where is that towel…"
"There!"
"Oh, I see it. You're so smart, Kuni-chan!"
giggle giggle
"Now, the shirt Kachirou-kun lent you…"
"There!"
"Ah, here it is! Now let's put this on, and we can have breakfast, okay?"
"Breakfast!"
"Mm. What do you want for breakfast, Kuni-chan?"
"Mmm… rice?"
"Rice? Only rice?"
"With chicken!"
"Rice with chicken. Okay. I'll tell the ichinen to cook it for you. Then you have to say thank you to them."
"Hai, niichan!"
smile
giggle giggle
The bathroom door opened, and the ichinen trio looked at Fuji who came out holding Kuni-chan in his arms.
"Ah, Fuji-senpai, is the t-shirt okay?" asked Kachirou.
"Yes, Kachirou -kun, it is, ne, Kuni-chan?"
"Hai. Arigato, niichan!"
"Kawaii…" Tomoka crowed.
Sakuno nodded, blushing slightly.
"Ne, I have to speak to Ryuzaki-sensei first, and I think Kuni-chan needs breakfast. You can make chicken with rice, can't you, Katsuo-kun?"
"Sure, Fuji-senpai."
"Good. Kuni-chan, you go with oniichan-tachi and oneechan-tachi and eat breakfast, okay?"
Kuni-chan looked uncertain.
Tomoka, being the one with younger siblings to care for, stepped up and reached out to Kuni-chan, "Hello, Kuni-chan. My name's Tomoka. This is Sakuno. Won't you have breakfast with us? We're starving, and Katsuo cooks very well!"
"Yes, Kuni-chan. Come on, let's have breakfast!" Sakuno smiled.
Kuni-chan smiled back and nodded, "Okay!"
Fuji set the boy down, "Now remember, don't touch anything in the kitchen, Kuni-chan."
"Hai, niichan."
"Can I trust the five of you to take good care of him, or else?"
There were gulps from the five, but they all nodded.
"Okay then. Run along, kids."
Tomoka took Kuni-chan's left hand, Sakuno took his right, and they all skipped toward the kitchen, Kuni-chan's happy voice talking incessantly, asking about this and that.
Fuji smiled, but as they went around the corner and disappeared, the smile disappeared.
Blue eyes opened dangerously as the tensai purposefully walked back to the meeting room, where he's certain his friends are.
TBC…Author's Note:
There'll be many flashbacks here. This was written after I read Naoe Kita's KING MARKER. Chibi-Reuel's so cute!
Like always, R/R greatly appreciated… Thanks for reading!
THR