A/N - A new story, yet again. (Funny how I always seem to be starting new stories instead of finishing my others...) My second Prince of Tennis fic, so don't hurt me too bad =). And yes, I do know that you can only create 8 characters of the Sims in a family, but I didn't want to leave a Seigaku regular out. It wouldn't be so much fun, then, right? Let's say that in the Prince of Tennis world of Sims, you can create as many characters as you want in a family, okay?

Disclaimer - I do not own any of the characters/places/settings of the Prince of Tennis. I don't own 'The Sims' as well. So don't sue. =)

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HAPPY SIM-ULATED BIRTHDAY, INUI!

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1. Pancakes and Personality Bars

"BLEEPBLEEPBLEEPBLEEPBLEEP"

A pale hand rose to give the clock a hearty slap before reaching for the spectacles on the bedside table. Fumbling with it, the person slowly put them on. Aah. Less blind. The boy got up from his bed then arranged and made it. There. Inui Sadaharu was ready for a new day. Next stop, the calendar. He made his way to the little spectacles calendar (Eiji had bought it for him last Christmas, "It took me ages to find one that glinted so much, Inui!") and did a double-take. June 3rd. It was his birthday. Well, that certainly put a different light on things. But there was still a 98% chance of him going to the bathroom to clean up. And sure enough, he went. After taking a bath ("88% I'll reach for the soap next..."), he went downstairs.

"Aah, Sadaharu! You're awake! Happy birthday!" came the joyful voice of his mother, who was cooking in the kitchen. "Thank you, okaa-san. It's a--" Inui stopped as he saw the dark looming clouds out the window, "a-a rather gloomy Saturday," he finished off lamely. His mother saw the dejected look on his face and smiled. "No worries. I made chocolate pancakes!" she said, trying to cheer him up. Sure enough, he could smell the delicious whiff of pancake batter. His mother placed the humongous pile of mouth-watering pancakes on the table. "They smell great," he replied, plopping himself on one of the dining-room chairs. "Oh, and you'll find your present in the living-room," she said, before leaving for work. His mother was really just too kind. Even though she was a workoholic. He didn't know anybody's mom who still worked during a Saturday.

Just was when he was devouring his first pancake, the doorbell rang. With a slight frown on his face, he reluctantly got up and answered the door. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, INUI!". And there were all the other Seigaku regulars, with big grins on their faces (and scowls from Echizen and Kaidoh and an exasperated sigh from Tezuka) looking weird with the contrast of black clouds above them. Without waiting for an answer, they trampled inside, leaving a surprised Inui still at the door. Making his way back into the kitchen, he found every other regular sitting at the table, Momoshiro having already grabbed a plate and was helping himself to a piece of pancake, much to his annoyance. Sitting back into his seat next to Oishi, he waited patiently... For about a second.

"What are you all doing here?"

All the others gave him 'for a smart guy, you're really dumb' looks before Eiji stated the obvious, "Hoi, hoi! We're here to celebrate your birthday, nyah!". Celebrate his birthday!? He didn't know that birthday boys were supposed to be hosting parties that they didn't even know about. "Wow, this ish really goosh!" cried Momoshiro, snatching another pancake.

"Is it? I should try some too,"

"Yeah!"

"Looks good!"

"Where're the plates?"

Inui was sitting slumped on his chair as his beloved pancakes were gulped, chewed, swallowed, bit, savoured and stolen. When everyone had their share, all that was left was a small lumpy pancake, sitting soaked in a pool of maple sauce. Eating the sad excuse for the pancake, he was forced to open his presents. "Ne, ne, Inui! Open mine first!" exclaimed Eiji, jumping up and down on his chair. Eying the gaudy wrapping paper, he tore it open, revealing...

"Britney Spears 'In the Zone'?" he asked skeptically.

"Yeah! I know you like the song 'Toxic'! I saw you dancing in the gym once!"

Inui wondered how anybody could have seen that. He made sure that he was completely alone! Oh, there was that 3% chance that someone might stumble in on him. Faces around the table paled and they hurriedly moved on. Oishi gave him a science book (which he had already four copies), Fuji gave him suntan lotion ("Oh... er... Thanks, Fuji..."), Takashi gave him a full discount for at least a week in his sushi shop, Tezuka handed him a box of tissues and a big jar of coffee (boring gifts from a boring buchou), Momoshiro bought him a Hawaiian shirt (which was blindingly bright), Echizen a bar of soap (he resented that, a little). Which left... Kaidoh. The bandanna-ed boy was currently pushing a wrapped box to him, staring at his plate. Inui deftly opened the package, and in it contained...

"The Sims! Oh, wow, I always wanted one of those!"

In his hands was the basic Sims box in all it's glory. You mean Kaidoh had bought this useless memory-gobbling junk? ... KAIDOH!?

"Thanks, Kaidoh..."

The flushed boy hissed unceremoniously before slinking further down his seat. "Saa... why don't we play it now? It's raining outside anyway," suggested Fuji, peeking out of the window. "Hai!!! Ne, Oishi!" agreed Eiji at once, dragging a befuddled Oishi around.

"Mada mada dane..."

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Once they were all cramped up in Inui's bedroom, he was left to install the program while the other literally thrashed his room. "Hmph," was all Tezuka could say as he watched his immature teammates.

"Boring... boring... boring... boring... Hey! You still have my calendar! It looks so much like you, nyah! I bet it even scares little kouhai away!"

"E-Eiji! Don't insult him!"

"Ohmygosh! Hey, Echizen! Look at this!"

"Mada mada da--what the!?"

Apparently, Momoshiro and Echizen had found his little stuffed bunny, Wabbit.

"Ahaha! Tezuka-buchou! It looks like you!"

"Pssshhhhh...."

Inui felt like kicking his computer to go faster. His room wasn't safe with a bunch of over-excited baffoons! Thankfully, it didn't take long before the game loaded. Everybody made a rush to the computer.

"Hoi hoi! The neighbourhood looks small, nyah!"

"Dammit, Mamushi! That's my foot you're putting your useless weight on!--OW!!!"

"Mada mada dane... The music's corny..."

They clicked on the create-a-family button and named their family name 'Seigaku'. When they each found out that you could actually choose your own facial features, everybody wanted to have a go. "Alright, alright! We can all create our own characters! Tezuka, you go first since you're the buchou!" reasoned Oishi, though his eyes were gleaming strangely.

"Hey, that's not fair! That means you go next!"

"Shut up, monkey..."

Tezuka proudly took Inui's seat and sorted through the faces. It turned out that all he could find that looked even remotely like himself wore strange goggles around the face and a boring suit. Fuji, sneakily clicked the done button, not giving poor Tezuka any personality points ("It's not like he has any in the first place..." was the reason Fuji was giving). Growling, the boy demanded to edit his character because he looked like a freak but his ruthless teammates denied. Not even running laps could sway them anymore. It was Oishi's turn next and he chose a rather normal-looking Sim, a normal egg-shaped head and casual clothes. He then sorted out his own personality, giving his 'neat'-ness a full 10, being very honest.

Fuji was next and was one of the lucky ones who had a normal face and nice clothes. Looking at the personality bars ("Saa... no bars for sadistic, ne..."), he only put his 'nice'-ness bar at a 2. Everybody knew to grow wary of the Fuji-Sim from then on, who incidentally had a weird smile on his face. Then it was Eiji's turn, and the only red-headed person he found was a nerd-lookalike ("Hey! That should be for someone like Inui! Not for me!" "O-Oi, Eiji!") but chose that anyway. He tried filling out all the bars but then decided mainly on 'active', 'playful' and 'outgoing'.

Then Takashi took his turn, at least having the sense to fill out all the bars evenly instead of leaning on one particular personality bar, he accidentally clicked the done button when he was wearing a Roman soldier suit and the others, like with Tezuka, didn't relent from their 'no editing' rule. Inui followed suit, finding the geekiest one of them all, wearing a scientist suit and gave about a nada for 'playful', leaving Kaidoh and Momoshiro to argue over who went next. The two boys were arm-wrestling on the table.

"Urgh... HADOKYUU!!!" Kaidoh yelled, bashing poor Momoshiro's hand onto the table.

"OWW!!!"

So, Kaidoh was next and the closest he could come to a bandanna for his Sim was a cowboy hat, but he didn't mind. He chose casual clothes and his nice-ness rating was surprisingly a six, which left everybody vaguely wondering if the guy was cheating. Next was Momoshiro, still nursing his poor hand. The spiky-haired guy he chose looked almost exactly like him and the only normal clothes left were baseball ones. He gave his 'active'-ness a nice fat ZERO. And so, the last of them all finally got his much-awaited turn. Ryoma chose the most good-looking one out of all of them (not caring that Ryoma-Sim didn't even look anything like him) and gave his 'active'-ness a 10, leaving 'outgoing' well out of the question.

At last, they got to move in their (very large) family, letting Inui choose the (very small) place. "Damn, we have almost no money left for furniture," muttered Inui. After sorting out necessities, the boys agreed on a kitchen stove, a refrigerator, a table and nine chairs, a toilet and shower, and two double beds. Two double beds... Four spaces... Nine Sims. God, they were so screwed...

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Kawaii Kinomoto